Wildlife From Beyond
by garfieldodie
Summary: Halloween Special. A strange nightmare is plaguing Calvin's sleep. Could it be that more life prowls in the woods at night than he thinks?
1. Prologue

**Author's Notes: **_Because what's a Halloween on FanFiction without a Calvin and Hobbes Halloween Special. This takes place within the continuity of CALVIN & HOBBES: THE SERIES. _

_Enjoy._

* * *

><p>Calvin's feet patted along on the dirt path through the woods. His hands were firmly jammed into his blue jacket's pockets, and he was determinedly trying to follow the pathway through the thick fog. He had never in his life consumed pea soup, but if it was as thick as the fog was at the moment, he really didn't think he'd like to try any.<p>

And he was also certain of something else: he would not be trekking out into the woods in the middle of the night for no good reason after this.

Calvin shivered as a gust of wind suddenly swooped around from behind him and tickled the back of his neck, blowing through his spiky blonde hair. He tried to remain focused on the path, but he was quickly beginning to lose faith in his own ability to walk in a straight line. What chance did he stand of getting out of here in one piece?

He stumbled over a root, but he managed to stop himself from landing in the dirt. He wasn't about to give his mother the satisfaction of giving him a bath if he came home filthy. He glared at the root and carried on, more determined than ever.

He was only ten feet away from the spot when he thought he heard someone else trip and stumble behind him.

Calvin turned to look.

There was no one there.

His eyes flitted left and right, searching for any sign of life, but nothing sprung out at him as being out of the ordinary – just the trees sitting through the swirling fog.

Swallowing, Calvin turned and headed back onto the path, shivering again and wrapping his arms around himself.

He probably walked about four yards before he heard a twig snap somewhere behind him.

Calvin's head whipped around to see who it was.

No one was there.

But one thing was noticeable: there was a broken twig lying on the path a few yards behind him.

Calvin's eyes bulged as he looked around, trying to see if anyone was watching him, but he couldn't see anything moving.

His breathing was getting heavier as he started to walk down the path a little faster.

And then he heard a low feral growl coming from somewhere in the bushes.

He stopped and looked in the direction of the noise.

The bushes were definitely moving, and there wasn't a breeze at all.

Realizing he was being watched, Calvin started walking again, daring not to run, as that would give his newfound knowledge away. But he did keep up a brisk pace. He didn't dare look back over his shoulder.

Not even when he heard the growl again, louder this time.

The fog danced teasingly around him, obscuring his view of what was around him, making the nighttime scene even more intimidating.

And then he heard the rustling in the bushes coming up behind him, and then it began to overtake him, drawing ahead.

Calvin slowed down and peered into the fog, listening to the leaves and branches rustling.

Then everything seemed to stop at once.

The rustling stopped. The wind stopped. Calvin stopped.

He looked ahead, straining his eyes to see.

And a pair of glowing red eyes glared straight back at him.

Calvin could feel his face go pale as he realized what was about to happen. He sent a message to his brain that would give the order to his legs to move. Unfortunately, whoever was in charge of his legs that night wasn't paying attention, and so he was rooted to the spot.

And then the creature growled. It was a long, deep, throaty roar that was on loan from hell that rattled Calvin's eardrums.

That seemed to alert his legs that the rest of the body was in danger, and he was soon running off the path and into the woods. He pushed branches aside and stumbled over more roots, panting heavily as he went deeper and deeper into the forest, not sure where he was going.

But he could hear the sounds of the animal chasing after him. It's huge paws thudding on the ground, growing closer and closer.

And then they stopped.

Calvin stopped running and looked back. There was no way those glowing red eyes had given up on him and left. But there was no sign of the creature anywhere.

Panting heavily, Calvin leaned over onto his knees, trying to get his energy back.

And then there was the sound of something very large landing right in front of him, and he realized that the creature had actually leapt over him and was now mere inches away from him.

Calvin jumped back in shock as he realized the glowing red eyes belonged to some sort of animal – specifically, a tiger.

The tiger wasn't like Hobbes at all. It was down on all fours, glaring at him with what Calvin was certain was hatred and loathing. It was baring its teeth at him, and it seemed to have the most pungent breath he had ever had been forced to smell.

They just looked into each other's eyes for what felt like an eternity and a half.

And then the tiger was up on its hind legs and preparing to swipe with its right paw, extending its long sharp claws.

Calvin realized he had no way of escaping.

And the tiger swiped.

* * *

><p>Calvin sat up straight in bed, gasping and panting, looking around frantically.<p>

He was back in his bedroom, under his covers, and all looked normal.

He looked to his right and saw Hobbes sound asleep next to him, bathed in the moonlight pouring through the window.

Calvin sighed with relief and lay his head down in his pillow.

But then a few seconds later, he realized something important – he had to go to the bathroom.

Feeling more relaxed now that he was back in the real world he climbed out of bed and padded across the floor in his bare feet and out of the room.

The house creaked at night. Well, to be honest, it creaked during the day as well, but at night, when all the lights were out and there was no activity at all, it was a lot more noticeable.

Calvin made the sort trek to the bathroom and did what he went there to do.

He was just finishing up when he heard a floorboard creak.

Nervous, he flushed and proceeded to head back out the door towards his room.

But he stopped to peek around the corner and make sure no one was watching him.

He couldn't see anyone so far.

Swallowing hard, Calvin tiptoed across the creaky floorboards towards his room, which was two doors down. It had never seemed so far away.

And then he heard that floorboard creak again.

Calvin whipped around and looked frantically into the dark. At first, he couldn't find anything.

But then his eyes focused on something at the other end of the hall, near his parents' room.

A pair of eyes glaring sinisterly at him in the dark seemed to be getting closer.

And he couldn't stop himself. He screamed.

The creature pounced him and they went rolling around the place.

"HELP! HELP! SOMEBODY! MONSTER! HELP!" he wailed.

Calvin managed to free himself and made a dash for the stairs, running down them as fast as he could. But just as he reached the bottom, the creature got him again, and they went rolling across the floor, bumping into a table and knocking it over in the process.

"GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF! SOMEBODY SAVE ME!" he shrieked.

And then the room was suddenly brighter, and he realized it was because someone had turned the lights on.

Calvin blinked heavily in the light and looked around, and he saw his stunned parents standing by a light switch, looking concerned.

"Calvin, you weren't sleepwalking _again_, were you?" Dad asked, looking more annoyed than concerned now that he looked at him.

Mom was more considerate, though. "Come on, sweetie. It was just a nightmare. Everything's fine."

Calvin looked around, and then he saw whom he'd been wrestling with.

Hobbes grinned sweetly at him.

* * *

><p>Calvin growled quietly as he settled back into bed, mainly because Hobbes was still giggling as he too snuggled back into place.<p>

"You should've seen your face!" he chortled. "You sounded like a banshee too! Ha!"

"Shut up, you mangy hairball," Calvin grumbled, pulling the blankets up to his chin. "You always get me into trouble."

But Hobbes just giggled in response and settled in, falling asleep with a smile on his face.

Calvin laid facing away from his friend, glaring at the far wall. He wasn't likely to get any sleep tonight.

Halloween was only a week away, and already scary stuff was happening.


	2. October 25th

**Author's Notes: **_I would just like to say that, no, this has nothing to do with Nocturnals. I have nothing to do with the posting of that story. Go ask Swing about that. He's in charge of posting the stories for C&H the Series, so go bug him about it._

_Moving on..._

* * *

><p>The next morning, about an hour after the crack of dawn, Calvin found himself walking down the walk towards the bus stop, where a familiar girl was waiting there, looking just a little too cheerful for this ungodly hour.<p>

She smiled brightly when she saw him. "Good morning, Calvin!" she said cheerily.

"Yeah, yeah," Calvin muttered darkly, hoping she'd take a hint and be quiet.

Unfortunately, Susie Derkins is a chatty girl, and she takes offense when others aren't taken by her inane chattiness. "Well, aren't _you _a ray of sunshine this morning?" she said snidely.

"Derkins, can you please cut me some slack?" Calvin moaned, rubbing his eyes. "I barely got any sleep last night."

"Oh? What were you doing?"

"What was I doing? I'll tell you what I was doing! I was lying in bed, staring at the ceiling, too wound up to go to sleep because my best friend scared me within in an inch of my life! That's what I was doing!"

"…Hobbes scared you?"

"Yes! I went to the bathroom in the middle of the night, and as I was leaving, he attacked me in the dark!"

"Why would…_Hobbes_…attack you?"

"He gets his kicks from it! He's a homicidal psycho jungle cat! It's his instinct! It's in his guts! Plus, he thinks it's funny."

"So you couldn't sleep because Hobbes scared you?"

"Of course! It had nothing to do with my nightmare!"

"You had a nightmare?"

Calvin inwardly cursed himself and blamed his little slipup on sleep deprivation. "It was nothing, Derkins."

"What was your nightmare about?"

"Oh, honestly! What's with all the questions? It's almost seven! Who asks this many questions at this early an hour?"

"It must've been a bad one."

Calvin growled again. "Yeah, alright, it was a bad one."

"So what was it about?"

"…I was alone in the woods at night and a phantom tiger attacked me."

"Oh wow…"

"Yeah. It was a bad one."

"So that's why you couldn't sleep? Because you had that nightmare?"

"Give the gal a cigar. Yes, that's why I couldn't sleep."

At that moment, the bus was pulling up, and they had to climb on board. They walked up the steps and down the aisle, past all their fellow classmates and sat down in a seat near the back.

As they pulled away from the corner, Calvin gently leaned his head against the window and closed his eyes, hoping to get some sleep.

Seeing that he wasn't going to be talking anytime soon, Susie pulled out a book she'd been enjoying and started reading it.

Calvin's exhaustion was finally catching up with him. He felt blissful happy sleep begin to take him over, and he leaned back comfortably.

And then he saw an evil tiger with glowing red eyes and sharp looking teeth take a swipe at him.

He jolted awake again, terrified.

"Calvin, are you okay?" Susie asked.

Calvin looked around.

Susie was putting her book back in her bag, and the other kids were getting off the bus. He looked out the window and saw that they were at school. He blinked a couple times as he realized he'd now been asleep for fifteen minutes.

"Yeah… Yeah, I'm fine. Let's go," he said distractedly, grabbing his things.

Susie watched him out of the corner of his eye as he walked past her and into the herd of kids heading outside.

* * *

><p>Miss Wormwood's classroom was decorated for Halloween. Orange and black paper chains lined the walls. Paper pumpkins were hanging from the blackboard. A skull hung from the open doorway. Fake cobwebs and plastic spiders adorned the front of the teacher's desk.<p>

For a woman with next to no sense of humor, Miss Wormwood was going all out this year.

Everyone took a seat as class began.

"Right, class, let's get started. Open your history books and turn to page 58. We're going to resume our discussions about the Boston Tea Party," she said, taking out her copy of the book.

Everyone got out their books, except for Calvin, who was so sleepy that he missed the textbook under his desk and banged his head on the floor.

"Calvin, no fooling around please. Get your book out."

Calvin rubbed his forehead and fumbled for his book. He pulled it out at last and flipped through the pages until he found the correct one. He made a show of pointing triumphantly at the book and smiling at the teacher.

Miss Wormwood gave him a pointed look and began the lesson.

Calvin tried to focus on the small print, but he just couldn't get his mind to stay focused on just one thing. He kept thinking back to those horrible red eyes and those sharp fangs glistening in the moonlight. He was struggling to keep his eyes open, but that imagery was so vivid that he was having trouble doing so.

"Calvin, pay attention," Miss Wormwood's stern voice said suddenly.

Calvin shook himself awake. "I am," he said unconvincingly.

She raised a skeptical eyebrow at him. "Then what are we talking about?"

"The Boston Tea Party!"

"And what happened at the Boston Tea Party…?"

Calvin blinked. "Er… Tea and crumpets were exchanged?"

* * *

><p>The door to the Principal's office squeaked open and Calvin walked inside.<p>

Mr. Spittle looked up over some papers. "Calvin, it's not even eight o'clock yet," he remarked.

Calvin just rubbed the sleep out of his eyes in response. "She sends her regards," he said through a yawn. "Besides, I get here first, so I can get the good chair this time."

"Well, take a seat, and I'll deal with you shortly."

"Mmm…"

Calvin sat down at the desk and promptly began to fall asleep again. He struggled not to, but his eyelids were just tugging themselves downwards. He tried slapping his face a few times, but he was still dropping off.

And then he saw those evil red eyes…

"Calvin, wake up! No sleeping in detention," Mr. Spittle's stern voice rattled his mind.

Calvin sat straight up, stunned. "I was… There were…"

"Sit quietly and sit up," he said sternly, returning to his papers.

Calvin blinked heavily. He tried leaning back in the desk, but it wasn't really doing anything for him. "Has the school board taken up on my idea for head rests for these desks?" he asked, stretching his neck awkwardly.

"I brought the idea before them. It was voted down three to two."

"Oh… Well, thanks anyway."

"Don't thank me. Thank those two who voted for you."

Calvin glared at him and settled himself into the desk, struggling to get comfortable.

* * *

><p>Lunchtime rolled around, and soon Calvin was sitting at the lunch table, going through his lunch for the day. He was still too tired to do anything gross for the day, so he settled for eating in silence.<p>

Susie sat down next to him. "How are you feeling now, Calvin?" she asked.

"Peachy," Calvin grumbled. "I can't believe it. Every time I start to nod off, I keep seeing that phantom tiger, and those glowing red eyes. I've had nightmares before. Why is this one the only one that's getting to me?"

"Maybe it means something," Susie said with a shrug.

"What, you mean like a prophecy? Are you saying that at some point, a phantom tiger is going to get me in the woods?"

"…No, I _don't _mean that. Maybe your mind is trying to tell you something. Maybe you should stop reading those comic books."

"I don't have any comic books about phantom tigers."

"Well, maybe it's trying to tell you that you're ready to give up Hobbes."

"_Give up_ Hobbes? What is he, a drug? He's my best friend! Okay, so he's mauled me a couple of times, but I don't think he'd _kill_ me…"

Susie rolled her eyes and ate her lunch. "Whatever. The point is if it's really getting to you, it might be something important."

Calvin thought for a moment as he chewed on his peanut butter sandwich. "Maybe…," he mused quietly.

As he sat there, eating quietly as you like, he felt his eyelids growing heavier. Realizing he was nodding off again, he promptly grabbed his thermos and poured some milk into his hand, splashing it onto his face to wake himself up.

Susie stared at him.

Calvin sat there, dripping with milk. "Precautions," he said, as if it were obvious.

Susie just shook her head. "You're going to be sticky once that dries."

Calvin glared at her and resumed his lunch.

* * *

><p>That afternoon, after three more dips into unconsciousness, Calvin managed to make it through the day and made it back onto the bus. He didn't get any sleep on the way back.<p>

When the bus arrived at his stop, he tiredly climbed down the steps and trudged slowly all the way to his front door. He was so tired, he ended up forgetting the important rule about entering his house: do it unannounced.

"I'M HOOOOOAAAAA_AAAAAUUUGGGGGHHHH—_OOF!"

Calvin found himself flying through the air with a strong pair of orange and black arms wrapped around his middle as he watched his house flying away from him, and then he landed hard on the ground, and he and Hobbes went rolling around across the lawn. They came to a stop under a tree.

"Woo-hoo-hoo-_hoo_!" Hobbes cheered, bouncing around the place, shaking the dirt off himself. "Oh, after a day of sitting around doing nothing, it's good to get out and get some exercise! Wouldn't you agree?"

Calvin glared at him. "I think you broke three of my ribs. I hope you're satisfied."

Hobbes grinned. "Come on, let's go inside. We got stuff to do!"

"We do?"

"Possibly. We haven't had a chance to go over today's itinerary."

They staggered back onto their feet, dusted themselves off and proceeded into the house.

"So what do you want to do today?" Hobbes eagerly. "Calvinball?"

"Not today," Calvin sighed, climbing the stairs. "I just don't have the energy."

"Oh. Okay, how about we have a GROSS meeting?"

"Nahh… I don't have the stamina."

"What stamina do you need for a GROSS meeting? We just sit in the tree house, wear newspaper hats and yell at each other."

"I know, and I just don't have the stamina for heated debates about what water balloons and such."

Hobbes shrugged as they entered the bedroom. "Well, what _do _you want to do?"

Calvin kicked his shoes off and lay down on his bed. "I just want to lie around and do nothing for awhile."

"Okay, let's do that then."

Hobbes climbed up onto the bed as well and proceeded to walk around in a circle three times before curling up taking on a catnap stance, slowly closing his eyes and dropping off.

Calvin relaxed into a nice state of unconsciousness and felt the gentle tug of sleep taking him over…

A pair of red eyes glared evilly at him from the fog like headlights.

Calvin sat straight up in shock, panting heavily. He looked around his room.

Hobbes was still asleep, but he was lying on his back now with his paws in the air, sniffing and clawing gently in his sleep.

Calvin looked around and spied the clock on his dresser. He had been asleep for an hour.

Shaking his head, he climbed down from his bed and pulled out his backpack. He sure as heck wasn't going back to sleep, and Hobbes was a right terror if you ever woke him up, so he decided to do some homework. He pulled out whatever notes he'd been able to gather after detention and began to work.

Finally, dinnertime had come and gone, and Calvin found himself in the bathtub – unwillingly, of course – and was sitting in the suds, while Hobbes sat next to the tub, as had become their little tradition for some reason best left for the philosophers to figure out.

Calvin fiddled with the bubble bath for a bit before getting comfortable against the edge. "I think I have a problem, Hobbes," he said after a moment's thought.

"What do you mean?" Hobbes asked, who was fiddling with a toy boat.

"I had a bad dream last night, and now it won't leave me alone."

"What was it about?"

"It was about this phantom tiger that was chasing me in the woods."

Hobbes looked up. "Phantom tiger?"

"Yeah. I was walking through the woods at night, and it was real foggy, and it had appeared out of nowhere. It had these glowing red eyes and huge fangs, and it was chasing me all over the place. I couldn't sleep a wink afterwards."

Hobbes looked sheepish. "Oh… Er, probably shouldn't have attacked you last night, then."

Calvin glared. "You _never _should _ever_ attack me," he snapped.

Hobbes rolled his eyes. "Oh, you have no sense of humor. I'm only admitting that _last night_ was a mistake. Every other time was fair game."

Calvin shook his head. "Well, I've been half-asleep all day, and now I'm just totally falling apart. Every time I've almost dozed off, I keep seeing those red eyes looking at me, and I wake up again. I don't know _how _I'm going to get any sleep tonight."

Hobbes thought about this. "Maybe you just need to think more positive thoughts as you're going to sleep. Try to focus on something you really like, and every time you think of that tiger, you dress focus on those things."

Calvin stared at him. "What are you, a fortune cookie?"

"Well, what else can you do? It's something to try."

"…I guess I don't have much choice. I'll try."

And with that, he pulled on the stopper and let the water drain away. Hobbes reached onto the counter pulled out a towel, passing it to Calvin as he climbed out.

As Calvin dried himself, he looked up at his friend. "Hobbes, have you ever had a dream that just wouldn't leave you alone?"

Hobbes thought back for a moment. "Well… I do recall _one _dream, but it wasn't necessarily a nightmare."

"What was it about?"

"Me, a wide open field and roughly six hundred hunters who forgot to load their guns."

Calvin blinked. "Yeah, I can see that as being a good dream."

The two were soon settling in for bed.

Calvin took no convincing from his parents to go to bed. He was so worn out that he could barely see straight. He staggered back into his room and put on his pajamas. He looked down at them disdainfully as he did them up and then climbed into bed.

"Sometimes at night I worry about things and then I can't fall asleep," he said as he drew the covers up to his chin. "In the dark, it's easier to imagine awful possibilities that you'd never be prepared for…and it's hard to feel courageous in loose-fitting, drowsy bear jammies."

Hobbes grinned as he lay back on his pillow. "That's why we tigers sleep in the buff!"

As they got comfortable, Mom came in to tuck them in for the night. "Alright, sweetie, it's time for lights out."

"Goodnight, Mom," Calvin mumbled, settling in to his spot.

Mom looked at him, confused. "Calvin, are you feeling alright?"

"Peachy. Why?"

"Well, you've been a bit quiet lately, and for you, that's cause for concern…"

"I'm just tired out today, Mom. I need to sleep."

Mom blinked, and then she put a hand on his forehead. "Well, you're not running a fever," she said after a moment.

"Mom, I just need to get some sleep. I'll be back to normal running capacity tomorrow morning."

"Looking forward to it," she muttered, leaning in to kiss him on the forehead. "Goodnight."

"G'night…"

She switched the light off and closed the door behind her.

"Goodnight, Hobbes," Calvin mumbled.

"Nighty-night," Hobbes replied, already half-asleep.

Once he heard the sound of his feline friend gently dozing next to him, Calvin began to focus.

His mind briefly flitted back to a long time ago – time was difficult to measure these days; it felt like years ago, but he was certain he was still six when it happened – back when their house had been broken into. While he'd at first thought it was cool, once nighttime had descended, his unease with the situation had finally begun to haunt him. He believed that nighttime was dark so you could imagine your fears with less distraction.

But then he remembered how he'd finally managed to get to sleep that night. He rolled over to look at his best friend. Hobbes was sound asleep now, snoring softly, his eyes closed tightly, like all cats did.

Calvin couldn't help but smile at his friend as he slept. Things are never quite as scary when you've got a best friend.

He felt sleep beginning to claim him again, and he laid his head down on the pillow. He watched as his friend breathed steadily next to him.

And as he remembered all the good times with fondness, he found himself drifting off into a dreamful slumber.

He was in the woods. It was foggy. Mists were swirling around him and creating all sorts of strange shapes. The moonlight did little to make him feel more at ease.

He felt his hair stand on end as he heard a rustling in the bushes. He turned to look. At first, he couldn't see anything.

But the bushes started shaking madly. Leaves flew off their branches from the force.

He began to back away nervously. What could possibly be making that much racket?

And then a large pair of paws pushed the branches aside, and a large feline head poked its way through.

Those glowing red eyes glared at him, piercing all the way into his soul.

He briefly thought about going on the offensive, but he could see that this tiger was much larger than him, bigger than most tigers, and was moving towards him with more than hunger in its eyes. There was a definite rage brimming in them.

Summoning all his strength, he turned and ran from the tiger, hoping he had the strength to make it all the way to safety, wherever that may be.

But he could hear the tiger chasing him.

And then he couldn't hear it anymore, but he could _sense _it.

He stopped and listened…

And listened…

And then he felt hot steam on the back of his neck.

He warily turned around and found himself staring right into those piercing red eyes. The tiger bared its fangs, which gleamed in the moonlight. It opened its mouth and prepared to devour him alive.

* * *

><p>Hobbes sat straight up in bed, gasping frantically and feeling himself all over to see if he was okay. He looked around desperately, and then he found that he was safe and sound back in the bedroom.<p>

He glanced down beside himself and saw Calvin sound asleep next to him, apparently enjoying a very nightmare-less dream.

He looked around again, and he spied the clock on the shelf.

It was midnight.

In his head, he was just about able to do the math.

October 26th – five days until Halloween.


	3. October 26th

Calvin woke up feeling better. He felt fresh and invigorated. He stretched a couple times to get the kinks out of his neck, and then he glanced at the clock. He'd successfully slept for nine hours, the usual recommended dose for sleeping.

Noting that he'd have to start getting ready for school any minute now anyway, he decided to go ahead and start getting dressed. The last thing he wanted at this ungodly hour was his mother yelling at him. Susie had once commented to him that the reason nobody on this block needed an alarm clock to get up was because his mother's harpish shrieks for him to get up did the job.

He couldn't help but smirk. The people on his block were going to be a little late this morning.

He proceeded to get out of bed, moving gently so as not to wake up Hobbes. Hobbes was also something of a pain when he was just waking up, and Calvin didn't care for waking up him too early either. His mother may be able to shriek, but a sleepy tiger _growled _and _had fangs and claws_, for pity's sake!

As he prepared to unbutton his pajamas and head for the dresser, he looked back at the bed to glance at his sleeping friend.

He was understandably surprised when Hobbes wasn't there. The bed was empty.

Raising an eyebrow, Calvin looked around the room for any immediate signs of his friend, but he couldn't see him anywhere.

"Hobbes? Hobbes, where are you?" he called out, checking under the bed.

Then he heard a rattling noise coming from the closet door. He checked over his shoulder and saw that the doorknob was noticeably shaking. Raising an eyebrow, he headed over and pulled it open, and he stared at what was inside.

Hobbes was shivering in the back, holding a baseball bat in his paws, his eyes wide and bloodshot as he stared at ahead, and he was whimpering quietly.

"What the heck is your deal?" Calvin demanded.

"Ph-ph-ph-phantom t-t-t-t-tiger…," Hobbes muttered, clutching the bat like a lifeline.

"…What?"

"…I…had a _dream_…about a _phantom_…_tiger_…"

Calvin stared. "You… Seriously?"

Hobbes glared at him. "Don't I _look _serious?"

"Seriously freaked out of your mind, as a matter of fact."

"Good. I'm glad we're clear."

"Was it the same one as in my dream? Did it have the red eyes?"

"I see them whenever I blink."

"Yeah, so did I…"

They stared at each other for a long moment.

"Did you have the same dream last night?" Hobbes asked.

"No, actually, I slept rather soundly."

"Ah…"

"So, I effectively transferred _my _dream to _your _mind?"

"It…would appear so, yes."

Calvin shook his head. "What can this mean?" he wondered, heading for his dresser to continue dressing. "How is that even possible?"

"I don't know… Maybe we should seek help," Hobbes suggested.

"From who?"

"I don't know… Maybe the MTM knows what to do."

"The MTM? I don't know… He's been a little odd lately ever since I accidentally rewired his electric capacitate back-to-front."

"CALVIN! IT'S TIME TO GET UP!" Mom's voice suddenly shouted from downstairs.

Calvin groaned. "Okay, I need to get dressed. You're going to have to handle this one on your own."

Hobbes moaned quietly and set down the baseball bat. "I need to do something! For crying out loud, I can't be having dreams about my own kind coming to kill me!"

Calvin shrugged as he climbed back onto the bed so that he could open the top drawer on his dresser. "Well, you're going to have to think of it by yourself. I've got stuff going on. I'm busy, you know."

He climbed into the top drawer, and he pulled it shut. The drawers opened and closed a little bit in descending order until he finally emerged from the bottom drawer, fully dressed, and he grabbed his nearby shoes and slid them on.

Hobbes blinked. "Okay, one day, you're going to have to tell me how you do that."

"Tell me why you have to walk in a circle three times before lying down, and I'll consider it," Calvin replied.

Hobbes scowled.

Calvin grabbed his things and headed out of the room. "Good luck, Hobbes. I'll see you this afternoon."

Once his friend was gone, Hobbes felt his lack of sleep begin to claim him. He slunk over to the bed and climbed into it, letting his head drop into the pillow from sheer exhaustion. He rolled over and glanced out the window, where he saw the sun coming up. It was reddish color, which suggested it would rain later that day.

The red sun reminded him of the tiger from his dream, so he rolled over and closed his eyes.

But then he saw those eyes, and he could hear the growling, and he opened them again with great reluctance.

Pondering to himself, he wondered just how bad off the MTM was, so he decided to find him. He got up and opened the top drawer of the dresser and rooted around Calvin's socks until he found the CD player. Pleased, he pressed the "on" button and got it started.

MTM revved momentarily, but there was a strange clunking noise coming from his circuitry that sounded a bit worrying to Hobbes.

"MTM? Are you okay?"

There was a moment of silence only interrupted by MTM's electronic hacking and coughing before a prerecorded message began to play, crackling with interference.

"_This is a recording_," the message said. "_I'm afraid MTM is unavailable at this moment because of a mechanical failure (i.e.: Calvin screwed up trying to repair me). If you wish to leave a message, please get a life and forget about it because I can't get to it until Calvin fixes me anyway. Have a nice day._"

Hobbes sighed disappointedly and set the CD player back in the drawer. He didn't know the first thing about MTM's complex circuitry, so there wasn't very much he could do. "You know, he's always bragging about his time traveling abilities. Why can't a future version just come back in time and fix him?" he wondered.

He waited for a moment, looking to see if a future MTM did turn up, but there was no sign, so he let the idea go and lay down on the bed dejectedly.

He glanced out the window again, watching the rising sun with apprehension. While he was certain the sun wasn't going to suddenly come to Earth and kill him personally, he couldn't help the feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach.

So he decided to watch activity in the front yard.

He spotted Calvin and Susie at the bus stop on the sidewalk. He couldn't help but smirk a bit as he saw that they were talking very animatedly. Clearly they were arguing about something again. Calvin was definitely back to normal.

A few minutes later, the big yellow school bus pulled up and stopped before them, opening its door to the two kids, and Calvin and Susie climbed aboard, and they were soon away.

Hobbes followed it with his eyes for a moment, and then his eyes fell to rest on a house it was passing. It was a two-story house with a fancy satellite dish on top of it.

It was Andy and Sherman's house.

Hobbes winced. He didn't like the idea of going to Sherman for help, but he knew something serious had to be going on. If a nightmare had been transferred between him and Calvin, it _had_ to be serious.

Swallowing his pride, Hobbes decided to give it a shot.

* * *

><p>Andy didn't go to school like Calvin. His mother, who had a teaching degree and a healthy distrust of the public school system, home schooled him. So he often found himself just hanging out around home, at least until Calvin and Hobbes came along, and he found himself helping to save the world on numerous occasions.<p>

He was supposed to start lessons in a few minutes, so he wasn't exactly expecting company at this hour. When he heard a knock at the door, he went to answer it with some curiosity.

Hobbes stood there, looking apprehensive.

"Hey, Hobbes, what's up?" he asked. "Is Calvin at school already?"

"Yeah… Listen, Andy, I need some help…"

"Hobbes, I'd love to, but I have to start my school lessons with my mom in a minute. Can it wait until this afternoon?"

"Er, actually, it's not your help I need… It's…_Sherman_…I need help from."

Andy's eyebrows somersaulted to the top of his forehead. "You want Sherman's help?" he asked, surprised.

"Shhh! Not so loud!" Hobbes hissed, making sure no one was in within listening distance.

Andy was still reeling from this news. It was no secret that within their group, Hobbes and Sherman despised each other. Hobbes was a tiger, and to associate with what he would usually refer to as a light lunch was definitely beneath him. It didn't really help that Sherman wasn't exactly Mr. Easy To Live With. The hamster was renowned genius that was constantly looking down on others beneath his intellect. It wasn't that he was a bad hamster. He just had a bit of a huge ego.

So for Hobbes to admit he needed help from the hamster was something of a shock.

"What do you need Sherman's help with?" Andy asked.

"It's… I'm not sure. I know he's not exactly a physiologist, but Calvin had this nightmare, but last night he didn't have it because _I _had it, and now I'm freaking out and I need some help, preferably _now_!"

Andy blinked. "Er, okay… He's in his lab. Do you want me to go with you?"

"No, no, I don't need any witnesses. This is humiliating enough. I know the way."

"Okay, well, at least let me buzz you in. He'll never let you in himself."

Hobbes nodded in agreement and followed the boy into his house.

Andy led him to a wall that had an intercom on it. He pressed a button and leaned into the grille. "Shermie?" he called into it.

There was a brief pause, followed by a crackly reply. "What?" Sherman's voice asked.

"There's a situation," Andy continued. "It's Hobbes. He's got some sort of problem."

"I'm not surprised."

Hobbes growled slightly.

"Shermie, behave. He's coming to you for help. He seems to really need it. Will you let him in, please?"

There was a very long pause as they waited patiently for the hamster to make up his mind.

Finally, there was a crackly reply. "…Fine."

A section of the wall suddenly slid into the real wall, and a hatchway opened up for all to see.

Hobbes peered down into the dimly lit lab that a hamster had managed to build himself despite being roughly the size of a Satsuma. He looked at Andy. "Thanks. I'll take it from here."

"Good luck," Andy replied encouragingly. "And just remember, if you think talking to Sherman is hard, I'll be in the next room trying to make sense of Geometry."

Andy walked away and headed for the kitchen to start his classes.

Hobbes steeled his nerve and walked through the hatch and into the lab. He peered over the railing of the spiral staircase and glanced around the various computer columns, around the room that was lined with several glass pipes that various multi-colored fluids flowing through them.

He heard a slight squeaking noise coming from one side of the room, and he realized it was a piece of chalk on a chalkboard. He threw a glance and saw who he was looking for.

Sherman was sitting on a single stool that was raised to the max so that he could fill the entire blackboard with equations. He was just finishing up when he glanced in Hobbes' direction and saw him.

"Ohh, goodie gumdrops," the hamster muttered, deftly kicking the stool, causing it to slowly drop towards it's lowest setting. He came down and looked disdainfully at the tiger. "What do you want?"

Hobbes glared at the hamster and came down the spiral staircase. "Don't get snippy, Vermin," he said warningly. "Calvin and I need your help. Me particularly, but him too."

"Oh, yeah?" Sherman sneered. "Then where is he?"

Hobbes blinked. "He's at school. It's Wednesday morning, remember."

Now Sherman blinked. "…I knew that. So what do you want? I haven't got all day!" he said testily.

Hobbes allowed himself a brief smirk at the hamster's slip up before getting serious.

"We've been having an odd dream these past two nights."

"That's you're big problem? You two are having nightmares and you're scared?"

"Not nightmares," Hobbes interrupted. "Nightmare – singular. Just the one."

Sherman stared. "You mean… You're both having the same dream?"

"It's weirder than that. He had the dream the other night, and then I had it last night. He essentially transferred his nightmare over to me without realizing it, and we don't know how it happened."

Sherman pondered. "That _does_ sound curious," he admitted. "But what do you expect me to do about it?"

"Well, can't you think of a reason why that would happen?"

"Dang it, Hobbes, I'm a scientist, not a psychiatrist! No one understands the human psyche, let alone a feline psyche! We just take random guesses and hope we get it right!"

"Well what the heck are we supposed to do?"

Sherman sighed and thought for a solid fifteen seconds, running all the variables through his mind, chucking out all the useless theories and briefly toying with the idea of telling Hobbes he was insane and to go home.

Finally, he thought of a fairly sensible question. "What's the dream about?" he asked.

"Well, in my version, I was lost in the woods at night, and it was really cold, and there was fog everywhere, and I kept getting the sensation that someone was following me. Then there was a rustling in the bushes, and I turned to look, and there were these red eyes glaring at me, and then this huge tiger jumped out and started chasing me everywhere."

Hobbes paused to shudder involuntarily.

"I keep seeing those red eyes in my sleep. Even when I'm just blinking, I see flashes of that tiger. It was going to tear me limb from limb."

Sherman stared. "Yeah, that I is pretty nerve-wracking."

"Yeah, we thought so."

"Did the same thing happen in Calvin's dream?"

"I think so. The same basic thing happened to him – the woods, the fog, the red eyes, the tiger chasing him."

Sherman pondered. "You know what just thought about?"

"What?"

"It's coming up one Halloween."

Hobbes stared at him, and his eyes widened in realization. "You mean…?"

"Yes, Hobbes, I think this might be supernatural."

It had become something of a tradition for the group now to find themselves dealing with some ghostly specter every year at Halloween.

One year, a ghost in their basement had terrorized Calvin and Hobbes.

The following year, when they had met Andy, Sherman and Socrates, Dr Brainstorm had tricked them into going into a "haunted house" for extra candy. Technically, they hadn't actually met any real ghosts, but Dr Brainstorm had tried to scare them.

Then they had gotten themselves in trouble with a ghost in Socrates' mansion. The ghost had terrorized them all night until they'd finally chased it away.

Then Calvin had electrocuted by the MTM, and this had somehow given him the sole ability to see dead people, and it had taken Hobbes' various ghost-warding-off techniques to allow them to trick-or-treat in peace.

Then Moe and his gang had dared Calvin to spend a night in a haunted funhouse at the carnival, and the rest of them had been dragged along for the ride. It turned out the funhouse was haunted by a poltergeist that forced them to run around in circles all night until they managed to outsmart it.

"Great…," Hobbes muttered. "You know, we'd been having a quiet year for once! Dr Brainstorm's been quiet, the aliens haven't bothered us, and now it turns out we've got another ghost to deal with!"

Sherman shrugged. "Well it _has _become a tradition. It'd be a shame not to deal with another one this year."

"Yeah, my heart bleeds," grumbled Hobbes. "What do we do?"

"You said the nightmare takes place in the woods?"

"Yeah."

"Well, maybe the answer lies there. Maybe I can look something up. Perhaps the woods behind you house have a history. Might be worth looking into."

Hobbes nodded. "Good thinking," he said. "Anything I should do?"

"Nothing I can think of at the moment. Just go home and try to get some sleep. You look exhausted."

"Yeah… Yeah, I guess you're right. I'll do that. Thanks, Sherman."

And just as Hobbes was starting to leave, he stopped and realized that he and Sherman had actually managed to go for a few minutes without snapping at each other. He turned to look at the hamster and realized that he'd reached the exact same conclusion.

They looked at each other awkwardly before realizing what they needed to do.

"Rat."

"Flea bag."

"Much better."

"Indeed."

And with equilibrium restored, Hobbes turned and hurried up the staircase.

Sherman shook his head and got to work at the computer, typing in Calvin's address and waiting for the results.

* * *

><p>Hobbes tried to find a comfortable place to sleep, but his nerves were so shot that no matter where he went, he just couldn't get comfy. He tried the sunbeam beneath the living room window, but it felt too warm. He tried in the easy chair, but the cushion was just too lumpy. He tried on Calvin's parents' bed, but it had a weird smell that annoyed him too much. He tried under the sofa, but he just couldn't get settled, and the darkness made him nervous.<p>

He slunk around the house on all fours, too tired to walk on his hind legs. He tried watching TV for a while, but even the most boring golf games couldn't make him nod off. He found an old black-and-white dubbed version of _Hamlet_, but even that couldn't make him find the strength to snooze.

Soon, it was the afternoon, and he hadn't managed to get any sleep, and as such, he couldn't find the energy to pounce Calvin when he got off the bus and came home.

"I'M HOME!" Calvin's voice carried into the living room.

There was a pause as Hobbes waited for him to come upstairs.

"I'M HOME!" Calvin shouted again.

Hobbes sighed as he listened to his friend come up the stairs towards their room.

"_I'M HOME_!" he shouted again.

The door burst open, and Calvin jumped backwards, just in case, but then he saw his friend conked out on the bed, clearly not up to the task.

"Thanks for the big greeting, pal," he snapped.

"I'm too tired," Hobbes complained.

"You mean you didn't get any sleep while I was gone? What happened?"

"It's Halloween."

"No it's not. That's still next Monday."

"But it's pretty close."

Calvin stared. "What are you saying to me, Hobbes?"

"Think about it: you have a nightmare that a phantom tiger attacked you, and then I have the dream the very next night. Halloween is coming up. What does that say to you?"

Calvin blinked, and then he nodded. "Right. It's that time of year. It's been a slow year for us, hasn't it?"

"Aside from our trip to Dubai and that adventure inside Socrates' brain, yeah, not a lot has happened lately."

"So what do we do?"

"I talked to Sherman about it."

"…You _voluntarily _sought out Sherman's help?"

"Not important. He said he'd research the woods behind our house to find out what's going on, since both our dreams took place there."

Calvin nodded again. "Good thinking."

"I thought so."

"Really?"

"Shut up."

Calvin smirked and put his backpack down on the floor. "Well, you clearly are in no fit state for merrymaking today. I need to do my homework before Mom has a conniption, so you go ahead and try to get some shut eye."

"I've been trying all day! I just can't get that tiger out of my mind!" Hobbes moaned. Then a thought occurred to him. "What about you? You said yesterday that it was bothering you all day. What about today?"

Calvin thought as he pulled out his textbooks. "Now that I think about it, I didn't really think about it. I was too busy trying to slip worms into Susie's desk."

"Normal day for you then?"

"Yep."

Hobbes sighed. "It's going to be a long time until bed time. Hopefully it'll switch back to you."

Calvin rolled his eyes and got to work at his desk.

Hobbes felt his eyelids grow heavier and heavier until finally, he realized he was nodding off.

* * *

><p>He was in the woods. It was foggy. Mists were swirling around him and creating all sorts of strange shapes. The moonlight did little to make him feel more at ease.<p>

He felt his hair stand on end as he heard a rustling in the bushes. He turned to look. At first, he couldn't see anything.

But the bushes started shaking madly. Leaves flew off their branches from the force.

He began to back away nervously. What could possibly be making that much racket?

And then a large pair of paws pushed the branches aside, and a large feline head poked its way through.

Those glowing red eyes glared at him, piercing all the way into his soul.

He realized he was going to have to try running away. This creature was moving towards him with more than hunger in its eyes. There was a definite rage brimming in them.

Summoning all his strength, he turned and ran from the tiger, hoping he had the strength to make it all the way to safety, wherever that may be.

But he could hear the tiger chasing him.

And then he couldn't hear it anymore, but he could _sense _it.

He stopped and listened…

And listened…

And then he felt hot steam on the back of his neck.

He warily turned around and found himself staring right into those piercing red eyes. The tiger bared its fangs, which gleamed in the moonlight. It opened its mouth and prepared to devour him alive.

* * *

><p>Sherman sat up in bed in shock. He looked around frantically, trying to get a bearing on where he was. He was in his hamster cage, in his little bed, with a curtain going around it for privacy.<p>

Gasping desperately, he got out of his little bed and pulled the curtain open. He looked and saw Andy sound asleep in his bed across the room. He snoring softly and looking very undisturbed.

Sherman's eyes flitted to the clock on the nightstand, glowing its digital numbers eerily.

It was two-thirty in the morning.

October 27th – four days until Halloween.


	4. October 27th

"CALVIN, IT'S TIME TO GET UP!"

Calvin was jolted out of sleep, startled by the shrill yell from his harpy of a mother. He gasped slightly before feeling exhaustion grab hold of him again and he slouched back into bed. He pulled the warm blankets over his body and hoped that a freak storm would sweep the city and cause school to be closed. Maybe even decimated.

But then he heard the drill sergeant footsteps coming up the stairs, and the door suddenly swung open, and his mother began to clap her hands in a very aggressive manner.

"Get up! Get up! Get up! You're going to be late! Let's _move it_! Hustle! Don't make me drag you out!"

Calvin glared at her and sluggishly climbed out of his warm bed and into the biting cold air of his bedroom.

"Good! Now get dressed! For Pete's sake, I shouldn't have to do this every morning!"

And she slammed the door shut behind her.

Calvin rolled his eyes. "I don't see anyone forcing you to do it," he muttered, climbing onto the bed and pulling open the top drawer.

He climbed inside and shut it around himself, and by the time he'd emerged from the bottom, full dressed, sans shoes, Hobbes was waking up.

Calvin glanced over at him. "I take it from the waking up in the bed instead the closet that you slept peacefully last night?" he asked, pulling his shoes on.

"Yep," Hobbes said with a yawn. "Nice and pleasant dreams for me. An entire field of cute little baby bunny rabbits to chase and terrorize."

Calvin was a little perturbed by the idyllic smile on his friend's face. "Okay… Glad to hear it."

Hobbes got out of bed and proceeded to do a series of stretches. "I'll be joining you for breakfast this morning," he said, lightly leaping down onto the floor.

"Okay. Come on. Let's go before Mom fixes me something sensible for breakfast."

They walked downstairs to the kitchen where they saw Calvin's parents milling around the kitchen. Mom was still making some breakfast while Dad was reading the newspaper.

"Good morning, sleepyhead," Dad said, taking a sip from his coffee.

"Mmm…," Calvin muttered, heading for the pantry. He pulled out the box of _Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs _and a bowl from the sink and headed for the table, pouring it away.

Dad looked disdainfully at the sugar-incrusted toxic sludge his son called breakfast. "You know, Calvin, you really should have something more nutritionally wholesome for breakfast," he remarked with a pointed look.

Calvin raised an eyebrow. "How's the coffee, Dad?" he asked with an equally pointed look.

Dad blinked. "Uh…"

"Score one for the six-year-old," Mom muttered, fixing oatmeal at the counter.

Calvin smirked and went to grab the milk from the fridge.

Hobbes grabbed a piece of toast off of Dad's stack and munched on it, taking a quick swig of juice from the pitcher in the middle of the table, before taking the section of the newspaper that Calvin's dad always discarded: the funnies.

Calvin poured the milk into the cereal, and he was just putting the jug back in the fridge when the phone rang.

Mom looked up in surprise. "Who in their right mind would phone at this hour?" she wondered, heading for it.

"Hopefully the superintendent with news of a freak blizzard," Calvin said.

"Calvin, it's October, and there's no snow on the ground," Dad pointed out.

"Then maybe it's a very _isolated _freak blizzard – specifically occurring on school grounds."

Mom ignored them and answered the phone. "Hello…? Andy, why are you calling out house at this hour? Calvin is getting ready for school. He can't come to the phone right now."

Calvin and Hobbes looked up from the funnies in surprise.

Mom paused, listening to the boy on the other end. She sighed. "Okay, but make it quick."

Calvin held his hand out to take the phone. "Andy's calling?"

"He said it has to do with his hamster," Mom replied, passing it to him.

Calvin held the phone up to his ear. "Andy? What's wrong with Sherman?" he asked while Hobbes leaned over to listen.

"I'm not entirely sure," Andy replied, sounding concerned. "He's been listless and distracted all day. He won't admit it, but I don't think he slept well last night. I think he had a nightmare."

Calvin's spoon stopped just millimeters from his open mouth. "Nightmare…?" he asked, looking at an equally perplexed Hobbes.

"Yeah, he's so darn proud he won't admit it. He never likes to show weakness. He says nightmares a childish and infantile."

Hobbes glared. "Oh, just because _I _had one…," he grumbled.

"Andy, what can I do about it? I have to go to school in a few minutes. I still have to eat breakfast."

"I know. I was hoping you could send Hobbes over to help. I just need someone to assist over here. I'm worried he's so drowsy that he'll mix the wrong chemicals and he'll blow up the house."

"Yeah, I'll come over and help the little pest," Hobbes sighed tiredly. "Maybe I should bring Socrates over. His spastic behavior might be enough to make Sherman focus more on protecting his things."

"Might not be a bad idea," Andy agreed. "I'll see you later. Oh, one more thing, Calvin."

"What?" Calvin asked.

"Have you not fixed the MTM yet?"

"No, he's still broken. I need to find some way to recalibrate the temporal capacitor and rewire his molecular destabilizer."

"Oh… And that's why his phone's not working."

"No, no, no – that's a completely different problem altogether. Gotta go, Andy. See you later."

He passed the phone back to his mother, who looked very perplexed by the bizarre conversation she'd just witnessed.

Calvin began to gobble up his cereal, returning to looking at the funnies with Hobbes.

Dad cleared his throat. "Everything okay with Andy?" he asked at last.

"Hmmm? Oh, yeah, he's fine. Sherman had a nightmare."

Mom and Dad looked at each other.

"Sherman?" Mom asked.

"Andy's hamster. Hobbes is going to go over later and make sure he's okay."

Mom and Dad rolled their eyes. "Of course he is," Mom sighed.

Hobbes blinked as she turned away to continue with her breakfast. "She doesn't sound very confident in my ability to cross the street," he said, sounding insulted.

"Just go before eight o'clock," Calvin replied. "There's hardly any traffic until then."

* * *

><p>To say that Socrates was amused by the situation would be putting it lightly. He was chortling away when Hobbes gave him a call after Calvin had gone to school. He met Hobbes halfway to Andy and Sherman's house, laughing like a cackling hyena.<p>

"A hamster had a nightmare!" he laughed. "How rich! Can't wait to see him in his weakened state!"

"How come?" Hobbes asked as they crossed the street.

"Because it's just so funny! I mean, come on! Imagine a sleep-deprived hamster in a lab! I can't wait to see him!"

"That's probably the first time anyone's ever been genuinely thrilled to see that hamster in his entire tiny life," Hobbes smirked.

They approached the house and knocked at the door.

A few seconds later, Andy opened the door. He looked relieved to see them.

"Hey, sorry to have you guys come down here on such short notice," he began.

"Nonsense!" Socrates interrupted. "Always happy to see the little furball! Now, where is he?"

Andy glared. "I don't like that look in your eyes," he said.

Socrates blinked and looked at himself in a nearby mirror. "That's the same look I always have!"

"Exactly."

"So where is he, in your room?" Hobbes asked.

"Nope. He's down in his lab, toiling away."

"He's actually down there in his condition?"

"Yeah, in case you didn't know this about Shermie, he's a bit overconfident."

"_No_, really?" Socrates exclaimed in feigned shock.

Andy rolled his eyes. "Look, all I'm asking is for you guys to keep him alert for awhile. Just make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."

"Check," Hobbes said. "Don't worry. We'll make sure he doesn't blow us all to Kingdom Come."

"Thanks. I have to go to my lessons now with mom. I'll see you guys at lunch."

"We're going to be here that _long_?" Socrates whined.

Andy just nodded and headed for the kitchen.

"Come on, let's go play nursemaid," Hobbes sighed, heading for the secret hatch in the wall.

"But how do we get in?" Socrates asked. "Sherman's not gonna let us in."

"Calvin already thought of that. He gave me this."

Hobbes held up a common water pistol (a.k.a.: the Transmogrifier Gun) and aimed it at the wall. He transformed a section of the wallpaper into a big red button. He pressed it, and the secret door slid open, revealing the lab within.

Socrates grinned. "You've gotta let me use that sometime!"

"No way," Hobbes replied.

"Aw, come on, Hobbo! Don't you trust me?"

"Socrates, we've known each other for years – of course not!"

And with that, Hobbes descended into the lab, with an insulted Socrates trailing after him.

When they got there, they were rather surprised to find Sherman sitting on the table, wearing a disheveled tiny lab coat and a pair of goggles gone eschew on his face. His lab reports were scattered haphazardly across the wooden table and his handwriting was barely intelligible.

"Looks like a party at Prince's house got out of hand," Socrates muttered.

"Sherman, are you okay?" Hobbes asked.

Sherman jerked into alertness, taking a defensive stance before realizing who had asked the question. This placed a look of the utmost disdain upon his features. "How the heck did you two get in here?" he demanded.

"You left a key under the mat," Hobbes lied.

Sherman blinked, not realizing. "Oh…"

Hobbes and Socrates glanced at each other, realizing that lack of sleep had put the usually genius hamster off his game.

"Andy called and asked us to help you out around here since you're feeling a bit drowsy," Hobbes continued.

Sherman managed a sleepy glare. "I don't need any help! I'm not tired! Just a slight headache, that's all! A headache that got worse the minute you walked through the door!"

Socrates arched his brow. "Well, you'll see. We'll be the most helpful headache you ever had!"

"Psh… Yeah, right. Look, just stay out of the way and bask in my genius, alright? I've got stuff to do that I can do _perfectly well on my own_, _thank you very much_."

And he turned dramatically towards a beaker full of fizzing blue liquid.

Hobbes and Socrates watched him stumble in that direction.

"You know," Hobbes whispered, "he's probably so tired his defenses are totally down."

"So?"

"So…" Hobbes licked his lips for emphasis.

Socrates stared at him. "Oh, you're _sick_!" he hissed, absolutely appalled.

"Just a thought…"

Sherman didn't hear them. He was too busy trying to carry the large beaker over towards an empty measuring glass. He stumbled slightly and the liquid sloshed around, and a little of it spilled on the table. The small droplet sizzled loudly as it ate through the wood, creating a perfect hole straight through to the bottom.

Hobbes and Socrates stared nervously.

"You know, I think I see where Andy was concerned," Hobbes said at last.

"Yeah, one minute it's acid on a wooden surface, and the next it's nitroglycerin on oily rags and typing paper," Socrates agreed.

They moved cautiously towards the table and carefully moved the measuring glass closer to Sherman, who, not noticing them, proceeded to pour the blue acid into the measuring glass.

But he didn't stop pouring.

Hobbes snuck a glance at the papers on the desk and saw a strange coded series of letters and numbers on them that matched the label on the beaker, and he saw the phrase "3 L" on the side. He looked at the amount that was currently going into the glass and saw that it was getting a little too high. In fact, it was already at "12 L".

"Er, Sherman, it looks like you're putting in too much," he pointed out.

"Shut up, I'm not tired," Sherman grumbled, but he stopped pouring nevertheless.

He set the beaker down and staggered off towards another beaker at the other end of the table.

Hobbes surreptitiously began pouring the blue acid back into the beaker, constantly checking to make sure there were only 3 Liters in it. He looked at the little lines and numbers on the side of the glass carefully.

"Does that look like 3 liters to you?" he asked.

Socrates shrugged as he looked at the little white line. "Pretty close," he said at last.

"I just don't want the world to suddenly blow up because we don't use the metric system."

Then they heard the oh-so-wonderful sound of glass breaking.

They looked over in alarm and saw that Sherman had knocked over an empty beaker, as he was moving around with a full one.

"Get a broom. I'll handle this," Hobbes sighed.

Socrates nodded and went to the supply cupboard.

* * *

><p>Lunchtime came at about eleven-thirty in Andy's house, so he was excused from his lessons for an hour to go see how things were going down in the lab. He walked through the open doorway. This was a bad sign in and of itself. Sherman never left the door open except to air out the place when he mixed particularly noxious gasses together.<p>

He wandered into the room down the spiral staircase and looked around anxiously. The place was like a disaster room. Papers were strewn all over the place. Broken glass littered the floor. Strange bubbling liquids lay in puddles. Some books were scattered around.

Socrates was frantically trying to sweep up some more of the broken glass with a broom and dust pan while using one of his hind legs to keep Sherman from going off the edge of the table.

Hobbes was going through the pages of various technical and chemical formulae, making sure that Sherman didn't accidentally misread anything or blow anything up.

Andy stepped gingerly over a fallen hat stand. "Well, it's definitely better than I thought it would be," he admitted.

Socrates looked up at the voice. He glared as he tipped the contents of the dustpan into a trashcan. "Thanks for this, Andy. I needed something to keep me busy all morning."

Hobbes frantically took a bottle of noxious-looking green stuff from Sherman and handed him one full of nice-looking yellow stuff instead. "There we go. Sodium cathorolite – _not_ Cesium Mixy Lodium," he said, hoping he was pronouncing those chemicals correctly.

Sherman didn't really acknowledge the tiger as he poured the stuff into the measuring glass.

"What's that green stuff do anyway?" Socrates asked.

"I think releases a toxic gas," Hobbes said, skimming through the nearest encyclopedia. "You know – the one that makes you sound like a chipmunk before you croak?"

"I thought that was Helium?" Andy said.

"Distant cousin, I'm guessing. I've learned more about chemistry than I ever cared to know today."

"How's Shermie been doing?"

"Take a look around," Socrates grumbled. "He's more out of it than the gardener at Tommy Chong's house."

Andy leaned close to look at his hamster friend. "Shermie, why won't you just talk about it? For crying out loud, look at what you're doing to your lab! You just need to talk about it!"

Sherman stopped what he was doing – and just in time, because he'd been about to break out the nitroglycerin. He stared off into space for a few seconds, contemplating and weighing his options.

Andy waited patiently while Hobbes gently took the small bottle out of the hamster's grasp and put it away.

"Phantom tiger…," he said quietly.

Hobbes' eyes widened. "No…," he whispered disbelievingly.

"Phantom tiger?" Andy repeated.

Socrates looked up from mopping. "What phantom tiger?" he asked.

"That's what I dreamed about," Sherman elaborated. "I was in the woods, and it was foggy, and I was being chased by an evil phantom tiger."

Hobbes stared. "With glowing red eyes?" he asked.

Sherman nodded.

"How did you know that?" Andy asked.

"Because I had that dream the night before," Hobbes said. "And Calvin had it the night before that."

Socrates looked impressed. "Wow, Calvin is subletting his nightmares? In this economy, that's a pretty good idea…"

Andy ignored him. "You really had the same nightmare?" he asked skeptically.

"Yeah… It was so bad, I came here yesterday for advice on how to deal with it," Hobbes admitted. "That reminds me: did you ever get around to researching the woods like you said you would?"

"You mean the woods behind your house?" Andy asked.

"Yeah, that's where the dream takes place. Sherman, did you?"

Sherman rubbed his eyes. "Yeah, I got some done between projects. I don't think I got much about history – just some basic stuff. The papers are on the end table."

Hobbes and Andy dug around on the table that was cluttered with _several _papers.

"I hope they haven't disintegrated yet," Socrates muttered, resuming mopping.

But Hobbes found the papers. He skimmed through them. His face looked grim. "Hmmm… Nothing much. Just basic atmospheric details… Topography… Wildlife… Nothing out of the ordinary."

Sherman shifted and tried to get comfortable where he was sitting. "Maybe I'll head out there later and do some actual hands-on stuff…," he mumbled, slowly drifting off.

"Yeah, maybe that'll work. We can do that tomorrow when you're feeling more rested," Andy said.

Gentle snores were all that he heard in response.

Everyone sighed with relief.

"Okay, let's get him upstairs to bed," Andy said, heading towards the dozing hamster to pick him up.

But then Sherman was suddenly wide-awake and screaming frantically. He was so terrified that he levitated two feet in the air, and when he landed, he ran and hid under some papers.

Everyone stared at him in surprise.

"Did you see the eyes?" Hobbes asked.

Sherman nodded timidly.

"Yeah, those keep turning up too… It's strange."

* * *

><p>Later that afternoon, once he was home from school, Calvin headed over to the house to see what was going on. He just barged right in without knocking and looked around. He saw the lab door still open and walked inside.<p>

He looked down and saw Hobbes, Socrates and Andy were finishing cleaning up the mess from earlier. The place was covered in full trash bags.

"I take it all is well?" he asked ironically.

"It was _really _bad an hour ago," Hobbes replied. "He was so drowsy he mixed up a can of instant oxygen with liquid nitrogen."

"Yeah, those stains probably aren't going to come out," Socrates tutted, mopping up another section of the floor.

"Sorry I missed it," Calvin said, coming down to join them. "Where is he now?"

"Well, after a lot of persuasion, we finally managed to get him to go to bed," Andy said. "Whether or not he actually sleeps is a different matter."

"Was it the same nightmare we had?" Calvin asked Hobbes.

"Yep. Phantom tiger and everything."

Calvin scratched his chin. "I really need to get MTM up and running again. He'd know what's going on. He somehow always does."

"Of course he usually doesn't tell us until after the fact that he knew."

"I'd be interested in knowing how your nightmare has been brain-hopping to other peoples' minds," Andy said. "I mean, whoever heard of a recurring nightmare happening to multiple people at different times?"

Socrates shrugged. "You know how things are at Halloween for us. That guy who got shot in my mansion still stops by from time to time. I've gotten used to him. Sometimes he just wanders around and waits for his energy to run out. He only _really_ gets annoying when I'm trying to watch TV and keeps changing to the Hallmark Channel. So annoying, I tell you."

Andy blinked. "A dead mobster who enjoys made-for-TV movies about relationships. I never would've guessed."

"I wonder how Sherman's sleeping now…," Calvin wondered.

"Hopefully peacefully. I'm not doing this everyday," Hobbes grumbled, sweeping up some more broken glass.

* * *

><p>He was in the woods. It was foggy. Mists were swirling around him and creating all sorts of strange shapes. The moonlight did little to make him feel more at ease.<p>

He felt his hair stand on end as he heard a rustling in the bushes. He turned to look. At first, he couldn't see anything.

But the bushes started shaking madly. Leaves flew off their branches from the force.

He began to back away nervously. What could possibly be making that much racket?

And then a large pair of paws pushed the branches aside, and a large feline head poked its way through.

Those glowing red eyes glared at him, piercing all the way into his soul.

He realized he was going to have to try running away. This creature was moving towards him with more than hunger in its eyes. There was a definite rage brimming in them.

Summoning all his strength, he turned and ran from the tiger, hoping he had the power to make it all the way to safety, wherever that may be.

But he could hear the tiger chasing him.

And then he couldn't hear it anymore, but he could _sense _it.

He stopped and listened…

And listened…

And then he felt hot steam on the back of his neck.

He warily turned around and found himself staring right into those piercing red eyes. The tiger bared its fangs, which gleamed in the moonlight. It opened its mouth and prepared to devour him alive.

* * *

><p>Andy sat up, gasping and looking around frantically. He saw the four walls of his room surrounding him, and he saw the familiar posters and bookshelves lining them. He saw his blue bed sheets and his quilt. He looked around and saw all his personal belongings.<p>

He looked over at the hamster cage on the table, its curtain drawn around it for Sherman's privacy, and he could hear the gentle breathing coming from inside it, signifying that his hamster was sleeping soundly.

Andy looked at his digital clock. It was five minutes after midnight.

October 28th – three days until Halloween.


	5. October 28th

Calvin had received the message that afternoon after getting home from school. Specifically, as he and Hobbes were pulling themselves out of the crater they had formed in the front yard when he tried walking through the door. The phone call had come around lunchtime, and Hobbes had decided to wait until his friend got home before going over.

The message said that Andy had had the nightmare as well.

The poor boy was exhausted. The dream had lightly traumatized him, while Sherman had confirmed that he'd been spared last night. The phantom tiger had found someone new to play with, evidently.

They met Socrates on the way, and they all went inside Andy and Sherman's house.

Andy was lying on the couch, a game controller held loosely in his grip over the side, about to drop to the floor. He had bags under his bloodshot eyes, and he had a slight tremble going on. The gang was concerned. It took a lot to truly rattle the usually calm and reserved boy, and to see him so unsettled worried them.

After all, he was the only one of them they all considered really likeable.

Calvin, Hobbes and Socrates formed a semi-circle around the couch, while Sherman sat on Andy's back, holding a notepad and pen, and he was jotting things down on it.

"Okay, so it's the same thing every time," he surmised. "One of us is walking through the woods at night, in the fog, and a phantom tiger comes up and chases us, with glowing red eyes, and it attacks us, forcing us to wake up in terror."

"Basically," Andy mumbled sleepily.

"You really need to get MTM up and running again," Socrates said to Calvin. "He'd be able to figure this out."

"I know, I know, but I haven't had time to work on him. I'm at school in the mornings, and now I'm dealing with this stuff, plus homework, in the afternoon. I've got a tight schedule going on, you know," Calvin said defensively.

"How are you feeling, Andy?" Hobbes asked.

"I'm so _tired_," Andy moaned quietly. "I have this strange urge to write music for Owl City."

Calvin blinked. "Looking forward to that," he muttered.

"So what's the plan?" Hobbes asked.

"I'm going to take some equipment out to the woods and some tests," Sherman said. "If you three would give me a hand carrying it all, we could go straight away."

"Sure," Calvin shrugged. "What do you need with you?"

"Oh, a number of my newer inventions to handle paranormal activity that I've been developing since I realized these ghosts were going to become a recurring theme every year."

"Do you have that weird handheld thingy from _Ghost Busters_?" Socrates asked hopefully. "You know, the thing that looks like a graphing calculator with rabbit ears?"

"Er, no… But I have been developing a special ghost detection scanner. It can measure the levels of ionization in the area."

"Nifty," Calvin remarked. "Let's get this stuff and get out there." He scooped up Sherman and headed for the lab, followed by Hobbes and Socrates.

Andy started to get up as well, still wracked with exhaustion. "Wait for me. I'm coming too."

But Socrates just shoved him back onto the couch. "We're not doing this every day," he complained. "Just stay there and watch golf. Should put you right to sleep."

"I don't _want _to sleep," Andy moaned. "I keep seeing those accursed red eyes."

"You know, for someone who owns all the _Halo _games, you're surprisingly twitchy," Calvin noted.

"Don't tell my parents. They think those are games about angels."

"I can see how they'd fall for that. Teenagers are big on church these days," Sherman said, rolling his eyes.

And they vanished around the corner towards the lab.

Andy watched them go before laying his head down on the couch's arm. He stared at the ceiling for a long time. He felt his eyelids getting heavier and heavier until…

…glowing red eyes.

He sat up straight away and gripped the cushions like lifesavers. "Man, this _sucks_…," he moaned.

* * *

><p>They had loaded all of Sherman's equipment into Calvin's wagon, and they were pulling down into the thicker part of the woods.<p>

The woods behind Calvin's backyard was a surprisingly clean place, much like a national forest. Although the odd beer can would crop up here and there, Calvin and Hobbes liked to think they were maintaining nature's artistic integrity by cleaning up whenever they found trash lying around. Right now, they were in a denser section of the woods, with several trees crowding the area.

"Right, how's this," Calvin asked, looking around.

Sherman, who was sitting on Calvin's shoulder, looked around. "This looks good. Seems to be a bit like the woods in the nightmare."

"Then let's set up camp in that little clearing over there," Hobbes suggested, pointing towards the small section of grass that was mostly empty.

They brought the wagon over towards the clearing and began pulling out all the equipment.

Socrates picked up a large device that sat on top of a tripod. "What's this for?" he asked.

"It's an old camera I modified," Sherman replied. "It now works basically like an infrared scanner, but instead of distinguishing heat signatures, it can distinguish spectral life forms."

"Are you sure?" Calvin asked. "What have you tested it on?"

Sherman looked sheepish. "Well…admittedly, nothing, but I'm hoping it'll work here."

"Well, I don't know about everyone else, but _I'm _feeling confident," Hobbes said as he began setting up another piece of boxy equipment.

"Just give it a chance," Sherman grumbled. "Be careful with that stuff."

"Well, what am I even setting up here?"

"That's the machine that scans local ionization. Don't drop it. Now then, Calvin, I need you to set up the Spectral Chronometer."

Calvin held up another boxy machine. "You mean this thingy?"

"Yes. Set it down and flip the switch on the front."

Calvin followed the instructions, and the exact instant he flipped the switch, the machine sprang into life, and several lights began flashing as it hummed contentedly.

"What does it do?"

"It scans the area and gets a feel for any ecto-activity," Sherman replied.

"Oh."

They stood in silence for a few seconds.

"So…what do we do now?" Socrates asked, already looking bored.

"We wait and see what the machines come up with. Socrates, keep an eye on your machine. Hobbes, let me know if the ion levels show a sudden spike in activity. Calvin, watch the area. See if anything becomes visible."

Calvin nodded and sat down in the grass, leaning against the machine and looking around.

And they sat in silence, listening to the distant sounds of birds chirping and squirrels scurrying around.

Sherman was going around between the machines, making sure each one was working well, checking readouts.

Hobbes decided to get comfortable and sat down, leaning against a boulder, keeping his half-interested gaze on the machine.

Socrates threw a few glances around, checking to see if anything showed up, but nothing was so far. He sat down in the wagon and leaned back, keeping the tiny screen within eyesight.

It was like this for at least thirty minutes.

They just sat there, watching the machines, and the only real movement was the leaves falling off the trees in the autumnal season.

Calvin checked his watch. "How long is this going to take?" he finally whined.

Sherman sighed. "Be patient, Calvin. We can't imagine this to go quickly straight away. Rome wasn't built in a day."

Socrates looked up. "You know how Romans are portrayed as super-serious in movies?" he asked.

"Eh?" Calvin asked, looking in his direction.

"Well, if you see movies like _Sparticus_, Romans are always portrayed as this dull, boring yet adventurous people."

"Mmm," Sherman said with a nod. "The Victorians sort of spread that stereotype."

"Right. But it turns out there world was actually pretty colorful and vibrant!" Socrates continued. "Can you imagine the ancient Romans like that? Imagine seeing a Roman Centurion doing a quick-step on his way to work."

Calvin rolled his eyes. "As intriguing as that is," he grumbled, "it doesn't change the fact that _there are no ghosts turning up_!"

"Give it time," Sherman sighed.

Hobbes cast a lazy eye at the ionization thingy again, and at first, nothing seemed to be happening, so he looked back at the clouds. But then he thought he saw movement coming from it out of the corner of his eye, and he looked again.

There was a spike in the middle of the readouts.

Hobbes' eyes widened. "Sherman? This…thing did a thing!" he said, pointing.

Sherman scurried over and looked at the small screen. His eyes widened as well. "Ionization spike – I think we've got some movement."

Curious, Socrates cast a glance at the tri-mounted device and looked through it, turning around to get a good look at the area. He could see the woods in a sort of infrared-styled visage, and he could see Calvin, Hobbes and Sherman's heat signatures on it.

But then he thought he saw another creature on the screen. It looked…feline.

"Whoa, we've got a visitor!" he exclaimed.

Sherman scurried towards the tripod and climbed up it like a squirrel up a tree, and he got to the tiny screen and looked through it. His eyes boggled. "He's right! I think we've got a specter in the vicinity. Calvin – grab the nozzle out of the machine."

Calvin opened a door on the back of his machine and pulled out a long hose with a nozzle on the end.

"Flip the blue switch," Sherman ordered.

Calvin followed the instructions and flipped the appropriate switch, and then the machine revved, and the nozzle began to suck in air. "What's it doing?" he asked.

"It's going to try and get a sample off of the ghost. It's going to absorb some ecto-energy and run a scan and analyze it."

Socrates was still watching the creature through the scanner, and he could see it reacting to the nozzle. It thrashed around a bit, and it looked like it was swiping at the air. "Ooh," he said, "he doesn't like that."

"Okay, that should be enough," Sherman said. "Switch it off."

Calvin complied, and the machine died down.

Moments later, it began revving again, and a slot opened up on the bottom, and a few reams of paper began to spew out, landing in the grass.

"What's all this?" Calvin asked, picking the papers up.

Sherman scurried over to him. "The results of the analysis," he said. "Let me see them."

Calvin held them out for Sherman to see. The hamster's beady eyes scanned them curiously, and then his beady eyes widened. "Wow…," he said quietly. "Looks like a genuine ghost alright!"

"What does it tell you exactly?" Hobbes asked coming over.

"It says it's a ghost of feline origin. About six feet long… Definitely a tiger… Giving off high energy readings… Fascinating…"

Hobbes and Socrates were just coming over to look when Calvin suddenly slammed the papers down on the ground with a yelp and began blowing on his hand. "Ouch!" he complained.

"What'd you that for?" Sherman demanded.

"It burned me!" Calvin complained.

Hobbes and Socrates stared at him incredulously. "Burned you?" Hobbes repeated.

"They're just pieces of paper," Socrates pointed out.

"I know that! And those pieces of paper burned me!" Calvin said indignantly.

Before anyone could say anything else about how ridiculous that sounded, they all noticed something rather worrying: they all smelled smoke. They looked down at the papers.

Somehow, the papers had caught fire, and they were setting the grass on fire as well!

"Yikes!" Calvin cried, jumping back.

Hobbes and Socrates jumped back as well.

"What the heck do you use for printing paper?" Socrates asked Sherman in shock.

"But…but that's impossible!" Sherman gasped. "There's no way!"

"Forget about how impossible it is! Somebody put it out before we start a forest fire!" Hobbes yelled.

"Calvin, stomp it out!" Sherman suggested.

"Why do _I_ have to stomp it out?" Calvin demanded fearfully.

"Because you're the only one of us wearing shoes," Socrates reminded him.

Calvin blinked. "Oh, right."

He ran up to the flaming papers and proceeded to stomp on them, trying to quell the flames that were growing by the second. He stomped like a jackrabbit on the ground, trying to put it out, but it was doing no good. In fact, the flames were getting bigger, and he was forced to get away before his pants were set on fire!

"What do we do? What do we do?" Socrates panicked.

"We need to extinguish the flames!" Sherman yelled, trying to assert control.

"No kidding, genius! Thanks for stating the obvious!" Hobbes yelled back, not about to be controlled by a hamster.

Calvin racked his brain for an answer. The fire was spreading away from the papers and was now heading around the grass, forcing Hobbes to back away from it.

Then he had an idea. "I just remembered!" he exclaimed.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out his Hypercube. He reached into his Hypercube and pulled out a full water balloon.

"Emergency water balloon!" he cried triumphantly. "Watch yourselves!"

And he threw the water balloon on the burning papers. There was a very satisfying splat as the flames were extinguished, and the papers were out, reduced to cinders.

The dry grass was still on fire, though, so he pulled out another balloon, and he threw that as well, and soon, all the fires were out.

They stood in silence for a few seconds.

"Nice one," Hobbes said at last.

"Why'd you have two full water balloons?" Socrates asked.

"GROSS Rules," Calvin replied, putting the Hypercube. "Article 5, Subsection D, clearly states that the Dictator-for-Life must always carry at least six full water balloons at all times. See, Hobbes? Told you that wasn't a stupid clause."

Sherman stared at the remnants of the papers. "That's all well and good, but all the data we gathered has been destroyed," he pointed out.

"Yeah, that was freaky," said Socrates. "What do you think it means?"

"I think it means that whatever is here, it wants us to leave it alone for now. Maybe we should pack up and leave."

The others agreed. They loaded the equipment back into the wagon and walked away.

And although they didn't notice the glowing red eyes hovering in midair, watching them leave, they couldn't shake the feeling of uneasiness.

* * *

><p>They regrouped in the lab.<p>

Calvin, Hobbes and Socrates stood around the table that Sherman was standing on. Andy was present as well, sitting listlessly in a swivel chair.

"So what should we do?" Socrates asked.

"Well, we know there's definitely _something _in the woods," Sherman said. "It must be influencing our nightmares one at a time, trying to make us truly fear it. Maybe it needs our fear for energy, and it feeds on it."

"Ghosts that feed on fear," Calvin sighed. "Just what we needed."

"So what happens now?" Hobbes asked.

"I should think that would be obvious," Sherman said with a pointed look. "The nightmare started with Calvin, and then it went to Hobbes, then to me, and now it's gotten to Andy. What's the next logical step?"

They all looked at each other, and they slowly pieced together what Sherman was saying.

Then they all looked at Socrates, who looked back at them with growing realization.

"Oh…," he said slowly. "…I'm going to be the next one to have the nightmare?"

"It would appear to be the next logical step," Sherman replied.

Socrates gulped. "But…I don't _wanna _have the nightmare! Look what it's done to _you_ guys! It made you fear sleep! I don't want to fear sleep! Look at what happens when you try to stay awake all the time! It makes you into a listless, easily distracted, walking disasters! I might as well be turned into Urkel!"

"It looks like you don't have a choice, Socrates," Calvin remarked. "It's been through the four of us. Looks like you're next. _How tragic_…," he said with a grin.

Socrates glared at him. "But I don't wanna!"

"You don't want the nightmare? Then there's only one way around it," Hobbes pointed out. "Stay awake all night and maybe it'll skip over you."

Socrates nodded determinedly. "You bet I will! I'll pull an all-nighter! No phantom tiger is going to take hold of _my _mortal fear!"

* * *

><p>Later that night, Socrates was determinedly trying to keep himself going. He was consuming as much sugar and caffeine as he could. He was bouncing all over the place, practically ricocheting off the walls.<p>

"Wheee!" he cheered. "Party all night! No ghosts are gonna get _me_! No, sir! Nuh-uh! No way!"

And to prove his point, he started bouncing up and down on the bed. As he did, grabbed a soda off the desk and began to guzzle it down.

"You don't see _me _getting all drowsy and stupid with sleepiness! Insomnia _rules_! I'll stay awake for _weeks _if I have to! No nightmares for _this _cat! No way! No how! I…! I… Uh…"

He realized he was slowing down. "Uh-oh…," he muttered. "Energy crash… Must… reach… energy drinks!"

He fumbled around on the floor, trying to reach for something he could use to wake himself up again. He stretched his long furry arm for a full can of Canned Energy. It might taste like the underside of a John Deere riding lawnmower, but it was what the situation called for.

And he grabbed it. He proceeded to open it.

He was just about to put the can to his lips and chug-a-lug like his life depended on it, when he realized he wasn't moving.

In fact, he was lying on the floor.

"Must… drink…," he gasped, feeling himself growing weaker by the second.

And he felt his eyelids growing heavier and heavier…

* * *

><p>He realized he was in the woods. It was foggy as heck. Mists were swirling around him and creating all sorts of odd shapes. The moonlight did little to make him feel more at ease.<p>

He felt his hair stand on end as he heard a rustling in the bushes. He turned to look. At first, he couldn't see anything.

But the bushes started shaking madly. Leaves flew off their branches from the force.

He began to back away nervously. What could possibly be making that much racket?

And then a large pair of paws pushed the branches aside, and a large feline head poked its way through.

Those glowing red eyes glared at him, piercing all the way into his soul.

He realized he was going to have to try running away. This creature was moving towards him with more than hunger in its eyes. There was a definite rage brimming in them.

Summoning all his strength, he turned and ran from the tiger, hoping he had the power to make it all the way to safety, wherever that may be.

But he could hear the tiger chasing him.

And then he couldn't hear it anymore, but he could _sense _it.

He stopped and listened…

And listened…

And then he felt hot steam on the back of his neck.

He warily turned around and found himself staring right into those piercing red eyes. The tiger bared its fangs, which gleamed in the moonlight. It opened its mouth and prepared to devour him alive.

* * *

><p>Elliot sat up in bed, letting out a loud short burst of terrified horror through a scream. He was panting for breath, looking around frantically. He was back in his bedroom. The dark blue walls, the rock band posters, the various books and CDs, and his discarded sunglasses were lying all over the place.<p>

He clutched his blankets, feeling very relieved. He let his head lay back on his pillow. "It was just a dream," he assured himself. "Just a dream…"

And then he heard the door burst open, and the lights came on, startling him again, and sat bolt up in bed to see what had happened.

Socrates was in the doorway looking concerned. "Elliot, what happened?" he asked.

Elliot relaxed again. "Oh, Socrates, it's you…," he sighed, breathing heavily. "Nothing happened."

"I heard you scream," Socrates said, furrowing his brow. "Good timing, by the way! Your terrified girlish shriek woke me up just in time! I managed to get down one more energy drink and ran down here! I should be able to stay up another few hours!"

"…Right. Glad to hear it," Elliot sighed. "Man, what a nightmare…"

Socrates' grin fell. "Nightmare…?" he asked.

"Yeah, it was so weird. I was in the woods, and this weird tiger with red eyes was chasing me. Weird, right?"

Socrates stared at him, mystified.

"…Socrates?"

Socrates cleared his throat and recovered. "Right! Yes! Weird… Heh-heh… How about that…"

"Yeah… Well, I'd better go back to sleep…," Elliot said at last.

"Right… Good luck with that," Socrates said knowingly, switching the light off.

"Goodnight, Socrates."

"Yeah, 'night…"

Socrates closed the bedroom door and stood in the hallway. He thought about this for a while. _Elliot _had the dream?

He glanced at a clock and saw the time. Just after midnight.

October 29th – two days until Halloween.


	6. October 29th

"Elliot had the dream?" Hobbes repeated, looking very surprised.

"He had the dream," Socrates confirmed.

The group was gathered in Calvin's room. It was Saturday, and they had all agreed to gather there once Socrates confirmed he had enough energy to make it there. They were all gathered around the desk, where Calvin was struggling to repair the MTM, who lay in pieces on the tabletop.

"What about you, though?" Andy asked, clearly feeling much better. "Did you sleep at all last night?"

"Well, afterwards, I got curious, and once the amphetamines wore off, I went to sleep," Socrates recounted.

"And…?"

"Slept like a cub. Nice and pleasant. _So_ many water balloons, so little time…"

"Glad to hear it," Calvin replied, looking through an eyeglass as he tried to stick some wires to a circuit board. "Sherman, have you found out _anything_ about the woods?"

"Nothing noteworthy," Sherman replied with a shake of the head. "I've double-checked _everything_, but there doesn't seem to be anything."

"So it's not an ancient Indian burial ground or something?" Socrates asked.

"Doesn't look like it. I don't think anything remotely interesting happened in those woods until Calvin got his wagon."

"Nice to know I have some milestones," Calvin mumbled. "If only I could fix MTM, he could use his time machine to look back through the woods' history and find something out. Something that normal computers can't figure out."

Sherman raised an eyebrow at him.

"…or yours either," Calvin amended.

"Thank _you_."

"Have at least isolated the problem yet?" Andy asked, looking over his friend's shoulder.

"I think so," Calvin replied. "It looks like the molecular stabilizer is wearing out. I need to find some way of repairing it."

"How do we do that?" Hobbes asked.

"I'll need something to revitalize it. Something that can sustain the power, like…"

Sherman looked up. "Something that can conduct electricity?" he suggested.

"Yeah, definitely. Any ideas?"

"Pickles."

Calvin blinked. "Huh?"

"Pickles can conduct electricity. It's because of their salt content. Foods high in salt can conduct electricity."

Everyone stared at him incredulously. "Er… How long would that last, exactly?" Calvin asked at last.

"Well, it's not a permanent solution, granted," Sherman admitted, "but it should get MTM up and running again long enough for him to give you a better one."

"Might be worth a shot," Andy said.

"I think there are some pickles in the fridge," Hobbes added.

"Okay, I'll go grab one and see what happens," Calvin said, getting up from his chair. "Be right back."

So the others just sat around the room, going through some of his old comic books, waiting for him to return.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, out in the woods, something was going on that they didn't know about. The wind was starting to pick up, blowing the orange and brown leaves around, swirling them about the place. It began blowing harder and harder, picking up sticks and anything loose lying around.<p>

Then the wind seemed to be accompanied by lightning. But the lightning wasn't coming from the sky. It seemed to shoot up from the ground.

* * *

><p>In the bedroom, Hobbes' acute feline senses perked up. He sat up on the bed and looked around.<p>

"Did anyone else feel that?" he asked.

Andy looked up from a comic book. "Feel what?"

"I… I don't know… Something…not right."

"Feline's intuition?" Sherman suggested dryly.

Hobbes glared at him but still concentrated. "Socrates, don't you feel it?"

Socrates shrugged. "I feel stuff all the time. I just tune it out. It distracts me from more important business, like measuring mayonnaise for mayo-balloons."

Everyone rolled their eyes. Socrates wasn't exactly known for upholding his feline roots.

"Whatever it is, it's bugging the heck out of me," Hobbes said, getting off the bed. He walked out of the room and left.

Moments later, Calvin came back, carrying a dripping pickle. "Okay, got one. How do we do this?" he asked.

"We'll need some wires, some alligator clips and an ordinary sewing needle," Sherman said.

So Calvin set the pickle down on the desk and pulled out his Hypercube. As he was digging around, he couldn't help but notice that Hobbes hadn't criticized Sherman's plan yet, so he looked up to see where he was.

"Where's Hobbes?" he asked.

"He had an itch. He went to see what it was," Socrates replied, not looking up from his comic book.

Calvin just looked confused. "Huh?"

* * *

><p>Hobbes prowled around the house on all fours, trying to get a decent sniff of what was going on. He could feel it coming from the bathroom mostly, so he slipped inside.<p>

Sniffing the air and detecting no one, he slunk into the room and sniffed around, his tail getting bushier as the air felt even stranger. He felt his claws involuntarily extend.

He looked up at the window and got curious. He got up and pulled over the clothes hamper, placing it underneath. He climbed up on top of it and proceeded to push the window open.

A blast of wind knocked him over, and he fell to the floor in a flurry of leaves.

Momentarily surprised, Hobbes managed to stagger back up to his feet again, and he pushed hard against the windstorm until he had the window shut again.

He stood on the hamper in shock, panting heavily as the leaves settled.

"What the heck was that?" he wondered.

Cautiously, he opened the window just a crack.

A thin blast of wind came gushing through, strong enough to almost knock him over again, but he grabbed the edges of the window frame before he fell.

He frantically closed the window.

"Something's wrong, the tiger said inanely," he muttered.

Deciding to take a chance, he hooked the claws of his right paw into the side of the window, and he made sure they wouldn't let go.

"Let's try this again, why don't we?" he mumbled, preparing to open the window with his left paw.

And he pushed the window open.

A huge gust of window blasted him, nearly knocking him over, but his claws held on, even as even more leaves bombarded him. He fought against the orange and brown current and glared into the wind, trying to see. His feline instincts told him that this was no ordinary wind, and he was always certain of them.

And they were about to be proven right.

Yellow lightning streaked across the backyard, coming from out of the woods.

Hobbes' eyes widened in amazement.

* * *

><p>Calvin and Sherman worked hard with the pickle, trying to hook some wires up to it, with a large sewing needle sticking out of it, and two alligator clips connecting it to the MTM.<p>

"How does it get a charge going?" Andy asked, looking over his friend's shoulder.

"Just need to do this…," Sherman replied, pressing a button MTM. "Get some residual power going and…"

There was a sudden shower of sparks that popped off the pickle's sewing needle, and suddenly, MTM's lights came on and they heard the delightful sleepy London twang of his accent.

"Testing, testing… Dem bones, dem bones… Dem bones, dem bones," MTM sang, coming back online. "Right then, I'm here…and why do I taste pickles?"

"_How _can he taste _anything_?" Socrates pointed out.

"It worked!" Calvin cheered. "MTM, how much power do you have?"

"Hmmm…," MTM murmured. "I think I should be able to keep going for half an hour."

"Wow," Andy said with a whistle. "That's one quality pickle."

"I bet your parents shop at Brown's," Socrates said with a grin. "They have the quality fruit."

"MTM, we've got ghost trouble again," Calvin said quickly. "We've been having the same nightmare. Ideas?"

"Hmmm… Well, one idea would be to help Hobbes out."

"Why does Hobbes need help?"

"_HELP!_"

Everyone looked towards the bedroom door at the sound of Hobbes' voice.

"I suggest we go and find out," MTM replied simply.

Disconnecting the CD player from the wires, Calvin snatched him up and they all ran out of the room.

* * *

><p>When they got to the bathroom, they found Hobbes writhing on the floor, leaves flying everywhere in the wind, and yellow lightning crackling through the open window, engulfing his body.<p>

"HELP!" he shouted, struggling to get free.

Everyone stared in shock.

"What do we do? What do we do?" Socrates wailed.

"Well, blind panic and screaming seem like a viable option, but I'm open to alternatives," Andy spoke up.

"MTM? Suggestions?" Calvin asked the CD player.

"Well, we could use my electric absorber," MTM replied.

"Okay…"

"…but we can't, because I don't have enough power for that."

Calvin closed his eyes and sighed frustrated. "What _can _you do?"

"I could suggest something I could do."

"Could you do the thing that you're suggesting?" Socrates asked.

"Well, no, I don't have enough power for that."

"You said you had enough power for half an hour!" Calvin complained.

"Yes, if I were to just sit around talking. If I use any of my fancy gadgets, it'd use up more power."

"Excuse me!" Hobbes suddenly interjected. "Sorry to be a pain about this, but _HELP ME!_"

"What can we do?" Calvin shouted.

"Well, if you'll excuse a humble hamster for making a suggestion…," Sherman began.

"Pfft! 'Humble'! Right," Socrates snorted.

Sherman threw him a glare and continued, "…but perhaps we could try _closing the window_?"

Everyone stared at the open bathroom window from across the room.

"Worth a try," Calvin said. "Let's go!"

They tried their best to get to the window, but the wind was blowing so hard, and the leaves were coming in so thickly, that they couldn't really make any traction, and the yellow lightning zapping around them as well. They found themselves being picked up and thrown out of the bathroom into the hallway. They hit the wall and slid down to the floor.

"We can't get to it! What do we do now?" Andy shouted over the roar of the wind.

Calvin thought for a moment and then snapped his fingers. "MTM, how much power would you require to use your manipulator arms?" he asked.

MTM did the calculations. "It'd cost me about ten minutes of runtime."

"We'll make do with that then. Hit it!"

"Roger."

A small door opened on the side of MTM's casing, and then a very long pair of thin robotic arms extended out and fought against the pulsating wind, dodging the bolts of lightning that accompanied it.

They reached out and found the windowsill, and still frightening the fearsome gale, they managed to grab on. Then, with a great amount of effort, they pushed down on the open window, slamming it shut.

The effect was instantaneous. The wind stopped, the lightning vanished, Hobbes stopped writhing on the floor, and the leaves stopped swirling around, and they fluttered gently to the linoleum floor.

Panting heavily, Hobbes slowly started to get up. His fur was all thick and frizzy, making him look like some weird hairdressing experiment. He still crackled with a bit of electricity.

He glared at the others. "Th-th-thanks for being so-so-so p-prompt about it-t," he stuttered.

They were just about to voice their concerns when they heard a familiar voice coming from downstairs.

"Calvin? What are you guys doing up there?"

Calvin's eyes widened. "Mom?" he cried.

They heard her footsteps stomping in their direction, towards the stairs.

"She's coming! What do we do?" Andy hissed.

They stared at the mess of the bathroom, which was full of leaves.

"MTM, any chance of a concentrated time vortex so we can clean the bathroom? She's never going to believe the truth!"

"I don't have enough power for that either," MTM replied.

Quickly, Calvin fumbled with his pockets and headed into the bathroom.

"What are you doing now?" Hobbes asked, trying to smooth his fur out.

"Just hide out in my room. I'll deal with this," Calvin replied, slamming the bathroom door shut in their faces.

Before they could ask any more questions, they heard Mom's footsteps stomping up the stairs, so they hightailed into Calvin's room and shut the door.

Mom came into the hallway and looked around. She saw the light on under the bathroom door, so she walked over there first.

"Calvin, are you in there?" she asked, knocking on the door.

"Yes, I am! What do you want?" Calvin's voice asked, sounding annoyed.

"Are you okay in there? What's going on?"

"Mom, I'm a little busy at the moment!"

"What was all that shouting I heard earlier?"

"I was just having a debate with the guys! Everything's cool!"

"Calvin – "

"Mom, please! I'm occupied at the moment! Just give me a few minutes!"

Mom rolled her eyes and waited patiently. "I'm not moving until you come out of there!"

"Okay, fine, I hope you're comfortable!"

* * *

><p>The others waited patiently in the bedroom.<p>

Hobbes had found a hairbrush and was trying to smooth out his fur again.

"What's he doing, anyway?" Andy asked, listening by the door.

"Haven't a clue," Hobbes replied, licking a particularly sticky-uppy section of fur before flattening it with the hairbrush. "He's gotten better at getting himself out of trouble lately, so he might come out alive."

"How long has he dragged this out?" Sherman asked.

"About a full minute now," MTM replied.

Then they all heard the sound of a toilet flushing.

"…You don't think he flushed all the leaves down the toilet, do you?" Socrates asked.

"Maybe," Hobbes shrugged. "It's not nearly as bad as when he broke the sink and flooded the place."

At that moment, the door opened, and Calvin stepped through, looking pleased with himself.

"What did you do?" Andy asked eagerly.

Calvin reached into his pocket and pulled out the Transmogrifier Gun, twirling it on his finger. "Turned all the leaves into harmless air particles."

Sherman blinked. "Wait, that's it? Why'd you stay in there all that time if it was that simple?"

"Had to sell it," Calvin replied. "I had to make it look suspicious. If I didn't make it look suspicious, then Mom would've been _even more _suspicious than she would've been if it _had _looked suspicious."

Socrates stared. "Wha…?"

"So," Andy said, "you had to make yourself look bad in order to get out of there scott-free?"

"It's how my parents' minds work. I've lived here for _six years_, guys. I know how their minds work. They always think I'm up to something. At least now Mom can say she sorted it out. It makes her feel like she's keeping an eye on me. Now! Down to business…"

Calvin approached MTM, who was back on the desk.

"MTM, did you scan the wind storm?" he asked.

"What makes you think I did?" the CD player replied.

"Because you're always doing _something_. I'm just hoping you did something relevant for once."

MTM wished he had eyes to roll. "Okay, yes, I scanned the wind storm. Had just enough power to get in a decent scan."

"What do you gather from it?"

"Electromagnetic power field built up by high ionization from the woods. You've definitely got a ghost out there. Possibly more."

"_Lovely_," Hobbes mumbled, almost back to normal.

"What do we do about it?" Calvin asked.

"Not much you can do about the ghosts. You need to figure out how they got here in the first place. After all, this is the first time you've had this problem with the woods, right?"

"Yeah, it is."

"Okay, then something's happened recently that's allowed them entry to our world. You need to figure out what's up."

"But what about the nightmare?" Andy asked.

"Eh? What nightmare?"

"I had a nightmare a few nights ago about a phantom tiger," Calvin supplied. "Then Hobbes had the next night, and then Sherman, then Andy and it skipped over Socrates and Elliot had it instead."

"You each had the same nightmare one at a time?"

"Except me!" Socrates said with a grin. "I was too smart for it!"

Everyone groaned.

"I think that'll be the ghosts," MTM suggested. "It's just a theory, mind you, but I think the ghosts are giving you all a heads-up about what's to come. They penetrated your subconscious's, and they let you know that they're coming through the form of the phantom tiger."

"Couldn't have just left a note or something?" Andy complained.

"The thing is, after we had the nightmare," Sherman put in, "we couldn't stop thinking about it all day. Every time we blinked, we could see that tiger's blood red eyes glaring at us in the dark."

"It might be playing on your fears, trying to ramp them up. It might be another poltergeist. They can't hurt you, but they feed on terror, and they can manipulate the area around them."

"Like setting papers on fire?" Calvin asked.

"Or huge wind storms out of nowhere?" Hobbes added.

"Yep, something like that," MTM confirmed.

"So how do we stop it?" Socrates asked.

"That's sort of up to you, really. I don't know how much longer I can keep going on 'pickle power' alone."

"Then how do we fix you?" Calvin asked. "We need a way of fixing you permanently."

"I need something to recharge me – something with a huge amount of power. I don't suppose there are any nuclear power stations nearby, are there?"

"No."

"Even just a little one?"

"MTM, we're lucky we have the general store," Hobbes said with a groan.

"Yeah, otherwise we'd have to rely on supermarket produce," Socrates said. "I hate that place and it's low-quality produce. The oranges are dry, the apples are stringy, and I don't know _what's _going on with the papayas!"

"As relevant as _that _is," Calvin said with a glare, "we need to focus. Where can we get enough power to get you going? Can't we just travel somewhere?"

"I'd need a tremendous amount of power to get going again. There might not be enough in the world…"

"Oh, don't be so dramatic," grumbled Sherman. "There must be somewhere we can get you more power."

"…I'll try to think of something. I've only got ten minutes of runtime left, though."

"Look, there's one more thing we need to know before you shut off permanently for the day," Calvin said quickly. "We need to know what we're up against. How much runtime would it take up if you were to scan the woods and find out its history? Can you do that?"

MTM thought for a very precious half-second. "I'd have to dedicate all my energy on it do a good job. All ten minutes will need to go into this."

"…Fine, okay. Do what you can."

And so, MTM's lights shut down, and but they could still hear his motor running.

They sat there in silence.

Andy checked his watch. "It's getting late. Shermie and I need to get home for dinner," he said at last.

"Yeah…," Socrates said. "Elliot's been a wreck all day, too. I'd better get home and check on him."

"Okay, guys, we'll regroup tomorrow," Calvin decided. "Hobbes and I will go over everything tonight and bring you up to date."

"Sounds like a plan," Sherman said, crawling in to Andy's waiting hand. "Home, Andrew."

"Yes, sir," Andy said playfully, and the three turned and left the room.

Calvin and Hobbes waved goodbye, and then they climbed onto the bed and settled in to read some comic books.

* * *

><p>He realized he was back in the woods. It was still foggy. The mists were still swirling around him, making odd shapes. The moonlight was as nerve-wracking as ever.<p>

And then he heard the telltale sound of rustling in the bushes. He turned to look. At first, he couldn't see anything.

But the bushes started shaking madly. Leaves flew off their branches from the force.

He began to back away nervously. What could possibly be making that much racket?

And then a large pair of paws pushed the branches aside, and a large feline head poked its way through.

Those glowing red eyes glared at him, piercing all the way into his soul.

He realized he was going to have to try running away. This creature was moving towards him with more than hunger in its eyes. There was a definite rage brimming in them.

Summoning all his strength, he turned and ran from the tiger, hoping he had the power to make it all the way to safety, wherever that may be.

But he could hear the tiger chasing him.

And then he couldn't hear it anymore, but he could _sense _it.

He stopped and listened…

And listened…

And then he felt hot steam on the back of his neck.

He warily turned around and found himself staring right into those piercing red eyes. The tiger bared its fangs, which gleamed in the moonlight. It opened its mouth and prepared to devour him alive.

* * *

><p>Calvin and Hobbes both woke up, startled and afraid. They instinctively grabbed each other in terror. They both panted heavily, relieved to be safe, but they looked at each other in horror, because they both knew what this meant.<p>

They looked at the clock.

* * *

><p>Andy sat up in bed, sweating a cold sort of sweat, and he looked around, trying to get back from his terrifying subconscious.<p>

He heard the sound of a curtain being drawn and he looked at the hamster cage on the table, and he saw Sherman looking back at him, also terrified.

They looked at each other in horror.

And then they looked at the clock.

* * *

><p>Socrates sat up in bed, gasping for air, realizing the nightmare had finally gotten him. He patted his bed frantically. Everything was okay.<p>

But those red eyes were still piercing into his soul…

He looked up at the clock on the wall.

Just after midnight.

October 30th – one day until Halloween.


	7. October 30th

"Okay, so we've all had the dream, and so we all know what's going on, right?" Calvin asked.

They were gathered in the tree house now. Calvin had a stack of papers in his hands while the other sat in a circle around him.

"Are those the papers MTM managed to print out?" Socrates asked.

"Yep. He used up the last of his power supply to give us these."

"What did he find out?" Andy asked.

Calvin started to sift through the papers. "Well, according to these reports, it turns out our local forest has a colorful history. It used to be in the BC era that loads of animals roamed these lands. Not just tigers – bears, coyotes, boars, pumas, you name it, it was here."

"Sounds like quite a neighborhood," Hobbes remarked.

"What happened to them all?" Andy asked.

"Man came along, that's what. It's the food chain in action. Man comes along and starts hunting animals for food or skins."

"Charming," Socrates muttered, wrapping his arms around himself protectively.

"So what's happening now that's gotten them showing themselves in our dreams?" Sherman demanded.

Calvin flipped to the next page. "According to this, MTM detected a trans-dimensional rift somewhere out there in the forest. The details are a little sketchy, but the basic idea is that this rift has opened a doorway to a dark dimension, and it's allowing the spirits of those slain animals to roam free in our world."

"And what can they do now that they're here?" Socrates asked.

"Something tells me they're not going to become spokes-animals for PETA," Andy muttered.

"No, nothing like that…," Calvin said, skimming through another sheet of paper. "It's more like…they're going to reap revenge on humanity and all those associated with humanity and take the planet back."

Hobbes blinked. "Oh… Well, that's not so bad," he said at last.

"Yeah, that might not be so bad," agreed Socrates.

Sherman scratched his chin. "It has…possibilities," he said at last.

Calvin and Andy glared at them.

"You guys wouldn't last five minutes in world run solely by animals," Calvin snapped.

"And why wouldn't we?" Hobbes sniffed.

"Because, Hobbes, then you'd have to fight with other tigers over their territory and find your own meals for a change."

"Yeah," Andy agreed, "and Shermie, once all those wild animals start running lose, you're going to find yourself back at the bottom of the food chain without your lab and gadgets to save you."

Sherman's eyes widened as he noticed the devious glint in Hobbes' eyes. "Er… Point taken," he said at last.

"And Socrates," Calvin added, "…well, where do we start? You basically have no survival skills whatsoever."

Socrates gasped indignantly. "I do too!"

"Okay, let's say that a wild grizzly bear suddenly attacks you. How do you defend yourself?"

"I'd do what _any _self-respecting tiger would do: throw a water balloon at him!"

"You wouldn't have any water balloons to throw," Andy pointed out. "You'd have to rely completely on your own feline instinct."

"Of which you have none of," Hobbes reminded him.

Socrates glared at them. "I've got plenty of feline instinct!"

"No offense, Socrates," said Sherman, "but most tigers don't spend their free time constantly updating their Face Book status."

"Oh, yeah, thanks for reminding me," Socrates said, quickly taking out a cell phone and tapping away on it.

They all stared at him as he performed this menial task for a few seconds before pocketing it again.

"Okay, that's another thing," Andy said. "In a world run solely by animals, you wouldn't have a cell phone."

"…I wouldn't?" Socrates looked stunned.

"In fact, you wouldn't even have a profile to update," Calvin added.

Socrates gulped and leaned against the side of tree house, looking very freaked out. "Okay, okay, enough with the vivid imagery! I get it! These ghosts have to be stopped!"

"Good. I'm glad we all agree," Calvin said. "Now we just need to figure out how."

"Couldn't we close the rift?" Hobbes asked.

"No good. It's stuck open. We'd need the MTM to do that, and we still haven't figured out how to recharge him sufficiently enough."

"Then couldn't we find a way to send the ghosts back?" Andy asked.

"How do we do that?" Calvin asked.

"Well, we managed to ward ghosts off with my special gear once, didn't we?" Hobbes asked.

"Yeah, but those were people ghosts. Probably wouldn't have the same effect on animals ghosts, and even if it did, that wouldn't send them back through the rift. They'd just find someplace to hide."

"There must be something we can do," Sherman muttered, thinking hard. "If only there was some way of finding out what makes these ghosts tick? We could find some way to reverse the process and turn that rift into a vacuum that could suck them all back inside."

"How do we find this rift anyway?" Socrates asked. "Is there anyway we can get closer to it and find it?"

"MTM couldn't pinpoint its exact location," Calvin replied. "He didn't have enough power for that. He could detect it, though, so it must be pretty big to be giving off that kind of signal."

"So what _can _we do?" Andy asked.

Calvin thought for a long time.

Finally, he spoke again. "We're just going to have to do what we can with what we have. Sherman – is there anything in your lab that might help?"

Sherman scratched his head. "I suppose I could redevelop some of my old gadgets to deal with these ghosts… Perhaps some sort particle accelerators to latch onto their molecular structures."

"Do ghosts have molecular structures?"

"Every life form has properties of some kind. If I can just find some way of breaking down that molecular structure, maybe we can stop the ghosts."

"How do you _kill_ a ghost? Isn't it already dead?" Socrates asked.

"I never said it would be easy," Sherman said with a shrug.

"Maybe you should get going on that," Calvin sighed. "They're probably going to attack as soon as it's Halloween night."

Hobbes realized something. "You know, we've been so preoccupied, we completely forgot about something."

"What's that?" Andy asked.

"Tomorrow's Halloween!"

Everyone stared at him.

"Yeah, thanks, Hobbes. We kind of knew that," Calvin said, raising an eyebrow at him.

"No, you don't understand! We don't have any costumes for trick-or-treating tomorrow!"

Everyone's eyes widened.

"Oh my gosh, how could I have forgotten?" Calvin cried.

"Well, to be fair, we've had other things going on lately," Andy pointed out.

"How fast do you think we can all slap something together before trick-or-treating tomorrow?" Socrates asked worriedly.

"If we all go home and start work right now, I think we can have something ready before tomorrow night," Calvin decided.

"Right," Hobbes agreed. "Let's get to work."

Sherman was watching them all proceed to climb down the rope ladder incredulously. "Costumes?" he finally said. "We've got an army of spirits coming tomorrow night, and you're worried about _costumes_?"

Calvin glared at him. "Of course not! Costumes are hardly important! It's getting free candy that _I'm _concerned about!"

Sherman rolled his eyes as Andy placed him on his shoulder, and he proceeded to climb down as well. "Nice to know we all know where are our priorities are," he muttered. "I'll be in my lab _working _on the real problem."

"You do that," Calvin replied absently.

And they all promptly ran home.

* * *

><p>Calvin and Hobbes sat in their room, digging around in the closet, trying to find something suitable for Halloween.<p>

"There's got to be _something _in here we can use!" Calvin said determinedly, tossing random articles of clothing over his shoulder.

"I'm not seeing anything appropriate," Hobbes said. "Do you think your mom could make us something overnight?"

"Hobbes, she's not a seamstress. Remember that onion costume I had to wear for that stupid school play?"

"Ohh, yeah… Well, you _kind of _resembled an onion."

"It looked like a cross between Jabba the Hutt and Rudolph the Reindeer. She did that in three days. Imagine what she'd fail to knock up in less than twenty-four hours. Keep digging."

"Fine."

They dug around some more, tossing aside some old costumes from the past, but not finding much.

"Okay, there's nothing useful in here. Maybe there's something in the Hypercube," Calvin said at last, heading for the glowing cube on his desk.

"Wait, I found something!" Hobbes exclaimed, pulling something fairly large out of the closet.

Calvin stared at what his friend had found.

"My old alien costume from that school play I did a few years ago?"

"Yeah, you can go as Phil the Alien!"

Calvin glared. "That's still dumb."

Hobbes just grinned. "It's a readymade costume! It's perfect!"

"It's ridiculous! Just toss it aside. We'll make something."

Hobbes shrugged tossed the rubbery old costume aside and climbed out of the closet. It landed in a heap on the floor.

"So what'll we do?" he asked.

"We'll just dig through the Hypercube and piece something together. Let's see… Something with pants…"

While they were doing this, they didn't notice that there was a slight breeze blowing through the room.

They didn't know that downstairs, Mom had thought it was getting a bit stuffy, so she opened a window. This had let in a huge gust of wind that blew leaves into the house, so she quickly closed it again. She didn't notice that the invisible entity that had slid into the house through her doing so.

It was invisible, so it made sense.

That entity began wafting it's way up the stairs and towards Calvin's room, sniffing him out. It found him and Hobbes still in their room, digging through the Hypercube, not seeming to notice it.

It searched the room for something to inhabit. It needed to take some sort of form, but during the day it was difficult. It needed something to keep warm in, to scare them with so it could grow stronger.

It couldn't find anything interesting at first.

But then it spotted the rubbery mass of Phil the Alien on the floor. If it had a mouth, it would've smiled. And it would've been a creepy smile.

Calvin and Hobbes didn't notice this, of course. They were too focused on finding bits and bobs in the Hypercube to make a costume.

"Nothing yet?" Hobbes asked.

"Not unless you want to go trick-or-treating as a giant bowling pin."

"Not really…"

It took a few moments, but at last, Hobbes' feline instincts kicked in, and he felt his tail go bushy involuntarily. He looked around the room, but he didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

"Did you feel that?" he asked.

"Feel what?"

"That weird chilling feeling. Did you feel it?"

"…No…I did not."

"Someone else is in this room."

Calvin looked around, but he didn't see anyone either. "Who?"

"Not sure…"

Then they both noticed something and looked down at the floor.

The alien costume was slowly starting to stand up.

"Well, that's different," said Calvin at last.

"Phil…?" Hobbes asked cautiously.

But the costume looked at them and frowned. Its eyes glowed red.

Calvin and Hobbes stared in terror as they realized – red eyes.

"I think we've met before," Calvin said nervously. "Maybe this time we'll stay awake all the way through."

The costume was made of rubber, and the mouth was not real, so it usually didn't open on its own. So it was something of a surprise to the two of them when the alien's mouth slid all the way open and let out an otherworldly moan that almost caused their respective spines to immigrate out of their backs.

"What do we do?" Hobbes asked.

Calvin wracked his brain. "Er… Run?"

"Genius!"

They both turned and headed for the open door, but the alien costume simply gestured with one hand and the door shut.

Calvin and Hobbes stared at it before trying again. They grabbed onto the doorknob and pulled, struggling to turn it, but it wouldn't budge.

"Come on, come on, please open!" Calvin wailed.

Hobbes looked over his shoulder and saw that the costume was reaching for them now. He grabbed Calvin's collar and dragged his friend away from the door and towards the window. He flung it open, and he dove through it, dragging Calvin behind him.

"Great, we're on the roof now!" Calvin grunted. "How are we supposed to escape from him from the top of a two-story house?"

"Well, where else could we have gone? We have no teleporters and he was blocking the way to the box. We're kind of strapped for alternatives here!"

Before they could argue the point any further, a floppy rubbery hand reached out of the window towards them.

"Run!" Calvin shouted.

They sprinted across the roof and towards the top. They made towards the chimney, where they stood on the triangular-shaped roof, gripping tightly to the brick chimney desperately.

And there was the costume, glaring up at them with red eyes, at it deftly swung up onto the roof and crawled up like a monkey climbing a tree.

"Great. Just our luck – he's an _athletic _poltergeist," Calvin muttered.

Hobbes swallowed. "Okay, you stay here. I'll deal with him," he said.

Calvin stared at his friend. "Seriously?"

"Yeah… I've got better reflexes. I can balance better. You can barely balance on a bicycle without training wheels."

"Hey! That machine's got it out for me!"

"Just stay put. I'll deal with this."

So Calvin clung to the side of the chimney as ordered.

Hobbes got his balance, and he carefully touched down on all fours and gingerly moved forwards towards the alien / ghost.

The ghost manipulated the costume's face to glare threateningly at the approaching tiger. It glared right into his eyes.

But Hobbes growled a low, deep growl. He kept his eyes on the prize. He leveled with the ghost and pounced, heading straight for it.

But the ghost had good reflexes, and it leapt into the air, jumping over Hobbes, who landed with a thud on the roof, almost sliding off to the side, but he managed to right himself with impressive speed.

The ghost landed flawlessly on the roof and grinned cunningly at Hobbes, as if daring him to try that again.

Hobbes made sure he had his balance back before he slunk forward again, growling away.

Calvin was watching this all with one thought on his mind: _Cool_…

Hobbes and the ghost glared at each other, one with determination, and the other with sneering derision.

After a moment to calculate everything from velocity to wind resistance, Hobbes pounced again.

And the ghost went sailing right over him.

Hobbes landed and skidded off the side of the house, but his claws managed to hook the top of the roof and saved him, so he quickly pulled himself back up again.

The ghost landed neatly on the other side, with all the grace of a ballet dancer. It would've been very picturesque had it not been for the fact that it inhabited a squat rubber alien costume.

Hobbes got his wind back and glared at the costume. "Okay, once more…," he muttered.

During all this, Calvin noticed that the chimney he was hanging onto was getting warmer as he held onto it. He patted its sides curiously, and then he smelled something familiar: smoke.

His parents must've lit a fire to warm up.

That gave him an idea.

Hobbes suddenly pounced again.

So did the ghost.

This time, the ghost didn't jump so high, and it went right over Hobbes, who tried to change directions in midair, but he couldn't manage it, and the ghost reached down and pushed Hobbes, throwing him off course so that he landed on the side of the roof instead of dead center.

"Hey!" Hobbes shouted, realizing he was in trouble. He hit the roof and skidded downwards towards the side, and he found himself flying off the edge of the house, but in the process, he managed to get himself turned around, and he reached desperately, relieved when he managed to grab onto the gutter.

Calvin watched this in horror.

The ghost turned around and made the alien costume grin sadistically, and it headed towards the tiger in distress, clearly intent on doing something about him – something that would probably cause him to cease breathing.

But Calvin still had his idea. "Hey, Phil!" he shouted. "Come and get me! I double-dog dare ya!"

The ghost stopped, and it glared at Calvin. It started towards him, standing on the roof's tip as if it were a balance beam.

Calvin merely stuck his tongue out at him.

Enraged, the ghost romped forwards across the roof, taking six long strides before taking a very impressive leap at the boy.

But Calvin was ready. As soon as the ghost was coming at him, he stuck his arms out and took a few steps forward.

The ghost collided with Calvin, who managed to grab onto the ghost's outstretched arms, and suddenly found itself being swung around through the air and towards the smoking chimney. The ghost let out a shriek as it vanished into the mouth of the chimney and vanished in a cloud of smoke.

Calvin found that his own sense of balance was suddenly off, and he realized he was falling, and then he realized he was sliding backwards off the roof, heading straight for the back porch.

He was certain he was a goner until he felt something latch onto his right leg. He looked up, thinking it was the ghost, but then he saw Hobbes had gotten back onto the roof and had grabbed him.

"Phew! Thanks, buddy," Calvin gasped.

Before Hobbes could reply, they heard shouts coming from inside – very familiar sounding shouts.

"I think your parents just found Phil," Hobbes said.

There was another puff of smoke, and they watched in amazement as a huge jagged bolt of yellow lightning erupted from the chimney and spewed through the sky, arching at five hundred feet and then turned off towards the woods, vanishing into the distance.

"I think that takes care of that," Calvin said triumphantly. "Solid work, Hobbes."

"Anytime," Hobbes replied, pulling his friend back to safety. "Now let's get back inside before your parents find us and connect us with the crime."

"Novel idea. Remember, we need to make ourselves look bad before they get to our room."

Hobbes rolled his eyes, and they made the trek back towards their room.

* * *

><p>The woods were foggy. The mists were swirling. It was impossible to tell where anything was. The moonlight just added a strange haze to the area.<p>

The bushes rustled. They rustled as if someone were very deliberately shaking them. Leaves came loose and flew around teasingly.

And then a large pair of paws pushed the branches aside, and a large feline head poked its way through.

Those glowing red eyes glared, able to pierce their way into someone's soul.

And there was a chase. A long, stumbling, frantic chase that took hunter and prey all across the woods, running frenetically.

And then the hunter seemed to vanish. The stomping footsteps just vanished.

Heaving breathing was the only sound the prey could make. Heaving breathing as it struggled to get oxygen back into its lungs.

It was way too quiet.

And then it got warmer somehow.

Someone was breathing down the prey's neck.

The prey turned around.

It was greeted by glowing red eyes and the fiercest-looking teeth it had ever seen.

* * *

><p>Calvin and Hobbes woke up, startled out of their sleep.<p>

"What was that?" Hobbes wondered aloud, looking around.

"It sounded like people screaming," Calvin said.

They stared at each other.

"You don't think…?"

"They couldn't possibly have…"

They threw off the covers and ran for Calvin's parents' bedroom.

Calvin knocked on the door. "Mom? Dad? Was that you guys?"

"Everything's fine, Calvin! Go back to bed!" Mom yelled back.

But Calvin was never one to take direction from adults, so he just opened the door and looked inside. "What's going on? What happened?"

"Nothing, _Calvin_," Dad snapped, looking a bit flustered. "Go back to bed."

"You guys scream in the middle of the night and expect me to go to bed without any answers? Do you even know me at all?"

"It's nothing, Calvin," Mom sighed. "I just had a bad dream. Everything's fine."

Calvin stared. "You had a bad dream?"

"Yes, I did. But it was just a dream."

Dad blinked. "Wait a minute, _I _had a bad dream," he protested.

Mom stared at him. "You did?"

"Yes, I was out in the woods, and it was the middle of the night – "

"…and I was attacked by a tiger with glowing red eyes," Mom interrupted.

Mom and Dad stared at each other, clearly disturbed by this.

Calvin felt dread building up in his stomach. "You guys had the same nightmare?" he asked slowly.

"It was just a dream, Calvin, don't worry about it," Mom said sounding very unsure of herself. "Just go back to bed. You've got school in the morning."

Calvin glared. "Okay, okay, fine, I'll go back to sleep. But we're talking about this in the morning!" he declared, and he left, closing the door behind him. He stormed his way back to his bedroom and went inside, where he found Hobbes looking out the window.

"They had the same nightmare," he snapped. "And they're being real jerks about it too! I mean, just because it's the middle of the night, they think it's okay to be snippy with me!"

Hobbes turned to look at him. "I think we have another problem."

"What do you mean?"

"Every light is on in every house. The entire block is awake right now."

Calvin stared at him. "…What?"

"Yeah, I'm guessing it's a safe bet that everyone _on the block _had the same dream tonight."

They stared at each other for a long time. Then they looked at the clock.

It was just a few minutes after midnight.

October 31st

"Happy Halloween," Calvin murmured.


	8. October 31st

Calvin couldn't help but notice the whole day that the sky was dark and cloudy, despite earlier forecasts that it was supposed to be sunny. Granted, this wasn't the first time the local meteorologist had proven his incompetence, but given the circumstances, it still unnerving all the same.

School was mostly work while everyone else played Halloween-related games in their classrooms. Miss Wormwood was of the opinion that education was very important. Needless to say, she wasn't a very happy person. Her idea of Halloween was to put a Tootsie Roll on each desk and then dive right into math. They weren't even allowed to wear their costumes to school.

Calvin sat at his desk and looked around the room. The room was full of sleepy kids, all looking half-heartedly at the chalkboard while a clearly out of it Miss Wormwood went about her business, trying to follow the lesson plan coherently.

He also observed that everyone in the room was also rather tightly wound. They were disoriented and sloppy, and yet whenever the slightest noise was made, they'd all jump in terror. They were all clearly shaken by something, but no one seemed sure what.

Calvin was for once the only one who was at all alert and together. He still wasn't taking notes and was constantly glancing at the clock, but he was the only thinking clearly at the moment. So he saw it as an opportunity. He was currently flicking crumpled pieces of paper at the back of Susie's head, enjoying that no one was noticing.

Then, as soon as he was certain Miss Wormwood was going to nod off right there in mid-subtraction problem, he took his heavy textbook and dropped it on the floor from a great height.

The noise echoed throughout the classroom, jolting everyone awake instantaneously.

Miss Wormwood was so startled that her hand jerked to the right, taking the chalk with it, causing a loud screechy noise, which made everyone cringe and moan with discomfort.

"What was that?" she asked, looking around frantically.

But everyone was too shaken to immediately finger Calvin, who just smiled sweetly at her.

Miss Wormwood rubbed her eyes tiredly. "I'm sorry, class, I just don't seem to have it together this morning," she said with a yawn. "I didn't get much sleep last night."

Calvin raised an eyebrow. "Bad dream, Miss Wormwood?" he asked.

The teacher looked in his direction suspiciously. "Er, yes, Calvin, I'm afraid so… But I shouldn't let it interfere with today's lesson."

"Was it about a tiger?"

Everyone in the room stared at Calvin as if he'd just revealed some huge big secret.

Miss Wormwood blinked, stunned. "How did you know that?" she asked quietly.

Calvin simply looked at Susie. "How about you Susie? Did you dream about a tiger?"

Susie looked startled. "I…"

"A tiger with glowing red eyes in the middle of the woods, perhaps?"

"…Yes…"

"You!" Calvin said suddenly, pointing at a boy sitting next to him. "Did you have a dream about a tiger?"

"Y-yes…," the boy replied, startled.

"And you?" he continued, pointing to a girl two rows down.

"Uh-huh…," the girl replied.

Calvin looked around the room. "Did everyone in this room have a dream about a tiger with glowing red eyes that tried to devour you in the woods?" he asked the entire class.

There were many mumbles and murmurs to the affirmative.

"Calvin, what is your point?" Miss Wormwood asked warily.

"My point?" Calvin asked incredulously. "My point? Everyone in this room had the exact same dream about a tiger, in every single detail, on the eve of Halloween, and you're asking what my point is?"

"Calvin, if you're trying to create a disturbance – "

"There already _is _a disturbance! There's _been _a disturbance! Something is coming to our world, and it's in the woods behind my house! It needs to be stopped! And I figure with the right scientists working around the clock, we could have this problem solved before the world is rewound to a time of hunting and gathering, fighting for survival in the truest sense! Who's with me?"

Everyone stared at him.

* * *

><p>Calvin found himself sitting in a desk, watching a drowsy Mr. Spittle sit behind his desk, struggling to stay awake as he did paperwork.<p>

"Figures," he muttered.

* * *

><p>That afternoon, Hobbes, Andy, Sherman and Socrates had gathered in Calvin's room, and they were trying to find some way of getting the MTM up and running again. Sherman was fiddling with the wiring as best as he could, and the others were passing tools whenever he asked for them.<p>

"Pliers," the hamster said, holding a paw out.

Andy passed him the pliers.

"Hacksaw."

Hobbes passed him a tiny hacksaw.

"Crowbar."

Socrates passed him a crowbar.

"Pellets."

Andy rolled his eyes and passed him a few hamster pellets, which Sherman gobbled up.

"Okay, I think that's it," he said, shutting the CD player.

"You've fixed him?" Hobbes asked hopefully.

"No, I mean, that's it, I've done all I can do. We've tried alternative power sources of all kinds, but I just can't get him going. He needs a super-powerful recharge, but there's just no sufficient power source to get it from."

"Wonderful," Socrates moaned. "What the heck are we supposed to do now?"

Then they all heard a low rumbling sound that made the floor shake.

"What was that?" Hobbes asked nervously.

"Earthquake?" Andy asked.

"Impossible," Sherman replied. "We're not on any fault lines. No tectonic plates moving around in this vicinity."

"So what was it?" Hobbes asked again.

The rumbling happened again.

Socrates threw a glance out the window. His eyes widened. "Look!" he exclaimed. "Look at the sky!"

Everyone turned to look out the window, and there was a collective gasp.

The sky, which was pretty dark to start with, was turning darker and cloudier, but these clouds were all moving super-fast over the houses.

"Where're the clouds going?" Andy asked.

"The woods are in that direction," Hobbes pointed out.

They all looked at each other and ran towards the bathroom. They burst inside and climbed up onto the clothes hamper so that they could look outside. They saw the clouds were all heading towards the woods, all right, but they were heading for one spot in particular.

"Ohh, that can't be good," Socrates muttered.

The clouds were gathering around one central location above the woods. That central spot seemed to be slowly growing brighter and brighter, turning into a single glowing orb, and it seemed to be absorbing the clouds into it.

The four friends were stunned into silence.

"…When does Calvin get home from school again?" Andy asked at last.

* * *

><p>They weren't the only ones who noticed the strange cloud activity.<p>

A big yellow school bus was driving into the neighborhood, and it came to a stop in front of Calvin's house. Everyone on board was staring out at it in wonder, all chattering at once.

Calvin and Susie stared up at it, mouths hanging open.

"Calvin?" Susie asked. "Why is there a giant glowing orb behind your house?"

"I think I can guess," Calvin muttered, grabbing his things. He made a mad dash down the aisle and out the bus, jumping down to the sidewalk and running up his walk, staring up at the clouds that were clearly hauling at this point.

He didn't even notice the school bus hadn't pulled away because the driver was recording the whole thing with his videophone.

Calvin ran to his door and flung it open. "I'M HOME!" he shouted.

And then a peculiar thing happened.

Instead of finding himself flying backwards and into the front yard, he found himself being grabbed by the arm and dragged _inside _the house. He ended up face to face with a terrified Hobbes.

"Well, this is a change of pace," Calvin remarked.

"Forget that! What are we gonna do about that thing?" Hobbes demanded.

Calvin pushed past Hobbes and ran up the stairs towards his room, where he found the others waiting for them.

"Any luck with the MTM?" he asked.

"Nada," Sherman replied despondently, kicking a loose piece of equipment for emphasis.

"Okay…," Calvin muttered. "Okay… I…don't know what to do…"

"That's a first," Socrates commented.

"I know. I don't like it. Okay… Okay… Poltergeist animals are coming to our world via a secret portal that we can't find, and the only one who can help us is not operational. Fantastic…"

They watched him stand there, wondering what he was thinking.

And then Calvin looked determined. "We'll just have to fight them with whatever we have. I'll gather up my inventions. You guys go home real quick and get yourselves ready."

"Check," Andy replied, scooping up Sherman, and he ran out the door, followed by Socrates.

"What do we need?" Hobbes asked his friend.

Calvin ripped open the closet and pulled a cardboard box. "Those ghosts wanna play rough? We'll play rough…or failing that, as roughly as we can."

"Sounds promising…"

"Good. Come on, get in dressed."

"Huh?"

"We picked out our costumes last night, right?"

"Yeah…"

"So get dressed!"

* * *

><p><em>DING DONG<em>

There was a knock at Andy's door, and the boy opened it, looking at the two figures standing behind it.

Calvin was wearing a tweed jacket, black pants, boots and a red bowtie.

Hobbes was wearing a brown pinstripe suit with long brown trench coat.

They both looked at Andy, who was wearing a Victorian style getup, with dark green frock coat, waistcoat, cravat and gray trousers and black shoes.

Calvin grinned. "Glad to see great minds think alike," he said approvingly.

"Right back at ya, good friend," Andy replied, high-fiving him.

"Where's Sherman?"

"Coming!" a voice called out.

They both looked down at the floor, and they saw the hamster scurrying towards them with a pair of goggles in his grasp.

"What're those?" Hobbes asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Special magnetism goggles," replied Sherman, passing them to Calvin. "I thought they'd give us an extra edge."

"What do they do?" Calvin asked, putting them on.

"They help you see higher magnetism spikes. Whenever a specter is in the vicinity, you can see them through that thing through the magnetic levels."

Calvin looked around the room through the goggles. Hobbes, Andy and Sherman were coming through in shades of red and orange, but whenever he looked at a metallic object like the door hinges or the hat stand, he saw shades of black.

"Cool…," he breathed. "Not to shabby, Sherman!"

"Sure thing," Sherman smirked.

"Why no costume?" Hobbes asked.

"I didn't have time for a costume. I spent all night working on _those _things."

"Priorities, priorities," Andy sighed.

"Come on," Calvin said quickly, removing the goggles and jamming into his jacket's inner pocket. "Let's grab Socrates and head for the woods. I've got everything."

"What's 'everything'?" Sherman asked.

Calvin led the way out of the house and showed them the wagon sitting on the front porch, which had the cardboard box sitting in it. "Well, for a start, it's two modes of transport…"

* * *

><p>They arrived at Socrates' mansion and rang the doorbell.<p>

DING, DING, DING, DING, DING…_DING…__**DONG!**_

Everyone rolled their eyes and waited.

The double doors swung open moments later and revealed Socrates in his Halloween costume – leather jacket, black jeans, boots and a green v-neck jumper. He posed eagerly for them.

"What do you think?" he asked excitedly.

"Terrifying," Calvin said dryly. "You ready to help deal with the ghosts?"

"Oh, you bet! I chose this outfit to instill fear and intimidation in my foes!"

"Socrates, all you need to be intimidating is to be holding a water balloon, and people will run for miles," Hobbes reminded him.

Socrates responded by opening up the leather jacket, where he revealed he had, at his disposal, a plethora of his prank tools. From whoopee cushions to seltzer-sprayers, he was set. "Suffice to say, I'm absolutely sorted," he grinned.

"Glad to see it. Now let's get a move on," Calvin replied.

* * *

><p>They all stood in Calvin's backyard, standing right on the property line.<p>

The dark gray clouds were still trucking it overhead, heading for that large glowing thing, which was growing brighter and brighter by the minute. The wind had picked up as well, and as the sun was setting, it was getting darker as well.

"What a picturesque scene," Andy murmured uneasily.

"Okay, here's the plan," Calvin said at last. "Hobbes and I will go on ahead in the box to investigate the big glowy thingy. The rest of you go in the wagon and ride into the woods. Try to see where that rift thing."

"Sure," Andy replied. "Anything else you want us to do? Maybe sign our wills?"

"Nahh, there's nothing of yours I'd want," Calvin replied dismissively. "Now let's get the lead out. Hobbes? Get in."

Calvin and Hobbes climbed into the box, slipping their goggles on. They were just about to take off when Calvin remembered something.

"Take the magnetism goggles," he added, tossing them to Andy. "And the Transmogrifier gun. Try to use it if you run into any ghosts."

"Glad to know you're not just leaving us to rely on our wits alone," Socrates noted.

"Oh, I'd never be _that _cruel," grinned Calvin. "Everyone ready? Let's kick some ghost butt!"

And the box slowly rose about fifteen feet into the air before zipping away into the night sky.

Andy, Sherman and Socrates jumped into the wagon, setting it into motion, and they rolled off into the woods towards Sneer Hill.

* * *

><p>Calvin and Hobbes maneuvered the box up and over the trees.<p>

They stared at the bright pulsating glowing orb that floated in the distance.

"Is it absorbing the clouds?" Hobbes asked. "Why's it doing that?"

"Not sure," Calvin replied. "Maybe the clouds have properties the ghosts need to survive."

"Maybe?"

"I dunno. I'm just winging it."

"Oh goody…"

Calvin leaned forward, and the box moved forwards towards the orb.

* * *

><p>The wagon bucked and bounced around rocks, through gullies and over fallen trees.<p>

Andy, Sherman and Socrates struggled to hang on as they were bounced around like peas in a frying pan, yelping and shouting as they struggled to maintain control.

Finally, they found a clearing, and they slowed to a stop in the middle of the woods. They came to a stop right next to a cliff, where they dizzily got out to look around.

"I don't know how they ride around in that thing everyday," Andy moaned.

"Do you see anything around here?" Socrates asked.

"Nothing out of the ordinary yet…"

"Hmmm… We might be too early. We usually deal with these things in the middle of the night, and it's late afternoon right now…"

No sooner had the words left Socrates' mouth did he regret them, because in that instant, it was starting to get darker.

Andy glared at him. "Dark enough for you?" he asked.

Socrates looked confused. "I thought Daylight Savings Time ended _next _week," he commented.

"It does," Sherman confirmed. "I think the ghosts are doing something to manipulate the environment."

* * *

><p>It was getting darker for Calvin and Hobbes as well. They looked around in surprise as the sky turned pitch black. There weren't even any stars.<p>

"What's happening?" Hobbes asked worriedly.

Calvin looked around. The only source of light was coming from the orb that floated out in the middle of the forest, which was still getting brighter, acting like a makeshift moon, but they could still see the clouds being absorbed by it.

"The ghosts are doing this," he said. "I think they're trying to make the environment less hospitable. I think they know we're coming to stop them, so they're trying freak us out so they can become more powerful."

"Well, they're doing a good job freaking _me _out," Hobbes noted.

Calvin looked back the way they came, but it was darkness all around. "I think they've cordoned off the woods with a force field of some kind. It's only dark in here. Man, I wonder what it must look like from the outside…"

"You're saying that from the outside of these woods, there's a giant round black mass?"

"Basically…"

"I bet your parents wondering why a gigantic bowling ball is in their backyard."

"Knowing them, they'll just blame me for all this."

"So what do we do?"

"We keep going forward. We don't have a choice. We have to stop them."

"Okay. I don't suppose this box has high-beams?"

Calvin ignored him, and they edged closer through the air towards the orb.

* * *

><p>Down in the woods, Andy, Sherman and Socrates were walking and stumbling in the dark. Fortunately, Andy still had the Transmogrifier Gun, so he used it to turn a rock into a flashlight to light the way.<p>

"So you think the ghosts are trying to psyche us out?" he asked Sherman.

"Seems logical. Poltergeists seem to enjoy messing with peoples' heads, so they're changing things around to scare us," the hamster replied.

"Well, I'll give them credit for effort," Socrates said, pulling the wagon behind them.

They walked in silence for a few more yards before they all the felt a sudden uneasiness.

"Do you guys feel that?" Andy asked quietly.

"You mean that feeling of impending fear and dread?" Socrates asked.

"Yeah, that's it."

"Yeah, I feel that."

"Good. How about you, Shermie?"

"Feeling it," Sherman gulped.

"Okay, so we're not imagining it. Where the heck are we?"

Then they heard a rustling noise behind them. They spun around and stared at a row of hedges that stood behind them, and they saw a few telltale leaves floating through the air around them.

Then it twigged. "Doesn't this look familiar?" Andy asked nervously.

"Yeah…," Sherman. "This is the spot."

"The spot in the dream," Socrates agreed.

"The spot in the dream…where the phantom tiger turned up," Andy finished.

They edged away from the bushes nervously.

And then they saw them – the glowing red eyes.

And then there was a low growl coming from the bushes.

"You know how in the dream, we had to run away on foot," Sherman said suddenly.

"Yeah…"

"Sure…"

"Well, now we've got something we didn't have."

"What?"

"A little red wagon."

They all stared at each other.

Then they leapt into the wagon. Andy took the steering column, and Socrates pushed off down the hill.

They left just in time, because a huge tiger with glowing red eyes suddenly stuck it's head out of the shrubbery, growling fiercely, and giving chase.

* * *

><p>Calvin and Hobbes were nearing the huge orb. They could literally <em>see <em>the spots where the clouds were being sucked in. The orb was growing so large and so bright they couldn't get very close without the danger of going blind.

"What is it? What's it for?" Hobbes asked.

Calvin scratched his chin. "Hobbes… You know how we were looking for a rift?"

"Yeah…?"

"I think we just found it."

And then they heard a commotion coming from down below.

"What's that?"

"Sounds like the wagon. Andy, Sherman and Socrates must be getting nearby. We'd better tell them what we've found."

And then they heard the loudest, most fearsome roar that either of them had ever heard.

They stared down at the ground.

"…I think we'd better do more than just tell them stuff," Hobbes said at last.

"Agreed."

"Allons-y?"

"Geronimo!"

And they put the pedal to the cardboard and went into a dive.

* * *

><p>The wagon bucked and bounced all over the woods, and Andy was struggling to operate the steering column. "Is it still chasing us?" he shouted.<p>

Socrates dared to throw a glance over his shoulder. "Yeah, I can still see the eyes!"

"Man, you'd think it would run out of energy!"

"How does a ghost run out of energy?" Sherman asked.

They bounced around some more, but then Andy saw the dim outline of a cliff in the darkness, and he quickly twisted the column to the right, and they skidded to a shaky stop, almost tipping out over the side.

"Ohh, that was too close!" Socrates gasped.

"I think this'll be closer," Sherman pointed out.

They looked and saw the red eyes charging at them out of the growing fog.

Andy then remembered. He fumbled around in his pockets and pulled out the Transmogrifier Gun. He aimed it at the phantom tiger. "_Please _be something that can stop a ghost…," he whispered.

_**BRZAP!**_

A see-through wall materialized out of thin air, and at the last second, the ghost tiger slammed into it, comically landing on the ground.

"You did it!" Socrates cheered.

"Yeah, I did!" Andy cried. "…Er, what did I do?"

Sherman looked at the strange force field that had appeared. "I'd wager that the wall is made of plasmic energy. Must be a substance that ghosts can't penetrate."

"Well, that's convenient," grinned Socrates.

At that moment, the cardboard box touched down next to them, and Calvin and Hobbes surveyed the scene.

"…That's the phantom tiger?" Calvin asked.

"Yep," Andy replied.

"Oh… I must say he's a bit of a disappointment."

"By the way, we found the rift," Hobbes said. "It's the big glowing thing above us."

"So what do we do about it?" Socrates asked.

But then they heard movement coming from nearby. They all jumped and looked around frantically.

"What was that?" Socrates whispered.

Acting quickly, Andy pulled out the magnetism goggles and looked around. Everyone became shades of green and blue or red and orange. "I'm not seeing anything weird…," he said.

"That's weird, given the view through those things," Calvin remarked.

But then they heard the rustling again, and they all turned around to look at what had happened.

Now Andy could see a strange black shape moving towards him through the goggles. "Can you guys see that?" he asked.

"See what?" Hobbes asked.

"See that strange grizzly-bear-shaped thing coming at us?"

"…No, we can't, actually," said Calvin slowly.

"Oh… In that case, stand back!"

Everyone jumped backwards as Andy suddenly whipped out the Transmogrifier Gun again, and the air rippled, revealing the phantom grizzly bear glaring at them, and it had glowing red eyes of it's own. It growled at them threateningly.

"Oh, _that _grizzly bear thing!" Socrates realized.

"In the box! Now!" Calvin ordered.

Everyone scrambled into the box just as the box swiped at them. The box slowly lifted off the ground, just before the ghost could get at them, and they took to the skies, getting as far away as they could.

"Up, up and away!" Calvin whooped. "What say we stay away from the ghosts on the ground, shall we?"

"Novel idea," Hobbes replied.

They tore through the branches and made their way to the treetops, hovering safely away from the wildlife below. They were bathed in the pure white light of the orb, which they all stopped to look at.

"So that's the doorway from the place they're coming from?" Sherman asked.

"Yep," Calvin nodded.

"Okay… So where are the ghosts? Shouldn't they be coming through?"

"Maybe they're not ready," Socrates shrugged.

"What could they be doing?"

"I dunno… Getting dressed?"

Everyone rolled their eyes.

Then Andy noticed something. "Hey… It's not absorbing the clouds anymore."

It was true. The clouds had stopped rolling. They were just floating harmlessly in the sky.

"Oh…," Sherman suddenly said.

"What? What is it, Shermie?" Andy asked.

"I get it now."

"Get what?" Hobbes asked.

"Why it was absorbing the clouds."

"Oh," said Calvin. "Why was it then?"

"Every cloud has a slight electrical charge in it. It was absorbing the clouds to get that charge to draw energy."

"Really? That's intriguing."

"So now that the clouds have stopped being absorbed, what does that mean?" Socrates asked.

"Guess."

They all thought about it. And then it twigged.

But there was no time to voice it.

The orb suddenly rippled with electricity, and a yellow streak of lightning streaked around it. Then another. Then three more. Then ten more. The whole thing was ripping itself apart with lightning.

And then the orb opened like an Easter egg.

"They're here…," Calvin announced.

And right then and there, hundreds upon hundreds of ghosts came spewing out of the orb, zooming around, growling and snarling, and _heading straight for them!_

"Ack!" Calvin cried, slamming down on the box's edge, and the whole thing ducked down just as a stream of ghostly tigers, bears, boars, pumas and various other wild animals went screaming overhead.

"What do we do? What do we do?" Hobbes cried.

"I don't know! I'm thinking! I'm – ACK!"

Calvin was cut off when ghostly moose suddenly collided with the box, knocking it out of the sky.

Everyone screamed in terror as they tumbled towards the ground.

Calvin fought to regain control of the craft, but it wasn't easy, and then he saw just how fast the ground was zooming towards them. He pulled up as hard as he could, but seeing that he couldn't save the box, he aimed for some nearby bushes for a soft landing instead.

They landed with hard thud, and they spilled out across the bushes, the box a wreck.

Calvin staggered back to his feet. "Great, just great!" he shouted angrily. "We're trapped in the woods, ghostly animals are swarming the place, and now my box is broken! What _else _can go wrong?"

Everyone stared at him.

"Did you really just say that?" Hobbes complained.

"I'm sorry. I lost my cool," Calvin said sheepishly.

Then they head what sounded like a stampede, but they couldn't see anyone coming.

Andy slipped the goggles back on and looked around quickly. He felt his blood run cold when he saw several black shapes heading towards them. "Run!" he shouted.

Everyone looked around frantically, but they couldn't find anywhere to go.

Desperate, Hobbes started climbing up a tree, and Socrates, who was followed by Andy and Sherman, followed him quickly.

Calvin was just about to follow as well, but then something rather unexpected happened.

A burst of yellow lightning came crashing down on the ground next to him, preventing him from climbing the tree.

"YIKES!" he cried.

He stared at the spot, which had smoke coming off of it. He looked up into the sky, and saw the orb, still spewing ghosts, was firing at him.

Another bolt of lightning shot down nearly got him, but he saw it in time and jumped out of the way.

The others watched in horror from the tree branch they were sitting on.

"Shouldn't we help him?" Andy asked.

"…How do we save him from _lightning_?" Socrates pointed out.

Calvin turned and ran just as another bolt of lightning struck down, this time starting a small fire. Yelping, he turned and ran in a different direction.

But the bolts of lightning just kept coming. He yelled and whooped and hollered, trying to get away safely, but he just couldn't escape.

But the whole time he was running, he remembered what Sherman had said about the orb absorbing electricity from the clouds. And he knew that all those clouds must've had a _ton _of electricity when combined into one mighty force.

And then it twigged. He knew a way out of this. He reached into his tweed jacket's inner pocket and pulled out a CD player.

"Okay, MTM, let's hope this works," he muttered.

As he fiddled with the MTM's circuitry, another bolt of lightning fired at him, and this one just wasn't stopping. It was burning a fiery line along the ground, chasing after him, leaving flames behind it. Just as it was about to catch him, Calvin dove out of the way, and it collided with a tree, setting it on fire.

While this was going on, Hobbes, Socrates, Andy and Sherman were trying to keep a good view of him, but they realized something was making their tree move. Andy adjusted the goggles and looked down, and he saw loads of angry ghostly animals, all trying to climb up the tree and get to them.

"Guys? We've got company!" he exclaimed.

The others looked down, but all they saw were a bunch of floating glowing red eyes.

"They're going to make the tree tip over!" Hobbes wailed.

Meanwhile, Calvin was positioning himself just right. He'd found a giant boulder to stand on, and he climbed up on top of it, getting a clear view of the giant glowing rift. He managed to steady himself as the wind blasted around him, blowing his hair back.

"HEY!" he shouted. "ALRIGHT, YOU BIG DUMB GHOSTIES! THINK YOU CAN DESTROY _ME_! COME ON! GIVE ME YOUR BEST SHOT! BLOW UP 'CALVIN THE BOLD' IF YOU DARE!"

The others stared at him in shock. "What the heck is he doing?" Hobbes exclaimed.

And the orb had heard Calvin. It was ready to destroy the one who was trying to stop its mission. It summoned up as much power as it could afford to waste, and it aimed right at the boy who wasn't running. The boy who was a part of humanity – a species that thought itself so superior that it could kill whatever lower species they saw fit.

And it fired.

A huge bright bolt of lightning zigzagged through the trees and headed straight for Calvin.

But Calvin just smiled. He was ready.

He took the MTM in his hand and tossed it into the air.

The lightning struck the MTM – or, more specifically, it struck the open compartment, and the lightning found itself being absorbed by a new host.

The MTM, still in the air, glowed a bright yellow color, taking on as much power as it could.

And finally that particular bolt depleted itself, and the CD player fell back into Calvin's waiting hands.

Calvin just grinned at the orb. "Thanks for that, and for falling for the oldest trick in the book. MTM? Are you back online?"

The CD player cleared its electronic throat. "Ahem… Testing, testing, one, two, buckle my shoe… Three, four, open the door… Yep. I think I'm back from the dead, so to speak."

"Good. No time to lose. Can you close the rift?"

"Oh, sure, no problem. Just a simple matter of depleting it of it's electric supply, and then the forces will reverse, all the ghosts get sucked back inside, and the rift will snap shut," MTM replied.

"Glad to hear it. Can you do that?"

"In my sleep."

"Then get to it!"

With no further encouragement needed, MTM revved his motor and fired a huge pure white jolt of energy towards the orb in the sky. This went on for five seconds before it finished, and then all was silent.

Hobbes, Socrates, Andy and Sherman watched as the glowing red eyes that represented their soon-to-be killers came closer and closer, shaking the tree madly.

And then orb suddenly began spewing clouds back into the sky!

Calvin grinned and jumped up and down. "Yes! We did it!"

The sky rumbled and seemed to boil as the clouds were spat out of the orb and off into the distance. And the sky started to get a little brighter.

Andy stared down at the creatures through the goggles, and he was surprised when they started to fade away. "They're going…," he said quietly. "Whatever Calvin's done, I think it's worked!"

The noise was incredible. The ghosts of tigers and wolves and bears let out otherworldly howls of despair as they felt themselves being hauled backwards and back into the sky, no longer allowed to run free in their original natural habitat. They were all lifted away into the sky, screaming and screeching the whole way, back into the waiting orb.

Hobbes, Socrates, Andy and Sherman climbed down from the tree and joined Calvin, who was climbing down from the boulder. They exchanged silent thanks as they watched the incredible sight.

It took awhile, but soon, all the ghosts had been pulled back to where they belonged.

There was a cataclysmic sound of thunder clapping, a bright flash of lightning, and they all jumped in surprise as the orb suddenly imploded and vanished into the dusk sky, leaving no trace that it had ever been there in the first place.

They all stood in quiet reverence, the sudden silence startling them.

"What happened?" Andy asked.

"The rift is closed," MTM replied. "Don't worry. It's permanent. They can't get back that way now."

"How about you?" Sherman asked. "Are you okay?"

"Oh, yeah, don't worry. There was enough power in that lightning to power six hundred nuclear power plants. I'm completely operational now. Back and better than ever, baby."

"Glad to hear it," Hobbes sighed. "What now?"

Calvin thought. "What time is it?" he asked.

Andy checked his watch. "Coming up on seven."

"That early? Really?"

"Yep."

"Huh. Feels like it should be later…"

They stood in silence for a minute.

Then Calvin grinned. "So, who's up for going door to door for free candy?"


End file.
